ROD  AND  GUN. 


A  WEEKLY  JOUKNAL 

Devoted  to  Field  and  Aquatic  Sports,  Practical  Natural  History, 
Fish  Culture,  the  Protection  of  Game,  Preservation  of  Forests, 
and  the  Inculcation  in  Men  and  Women  of  a  Healthy  Interest 
in  Out-Door  Recreation  and  Study. 

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ON    THE    EBB: 


A    FEW 


LoG-LlNES  FROM  AN  OLD  SALT 


flV 


CHARLES    F.    HOTCHKISS. 
i\ 


NEW   HAVEN: 

TUTTLE,    MOREHOUSE   &   TAYLOR,    PRINTERS. 

1878. 


V 


Copyright    1878, 


C. 


P  R  E  FAC  E. 


I  PROPOSE  to  launch  this  little  book  out  into  the  great  maelstrom  of 
this  busy  world,  not  doubting  that  I  shall  live  as  long  and  equally 
as  happy  as  if  the  event  had  never  occurred.  It  is  in  plain  style, 
exactly  as  is  my  way  of  conversation.  There  never  was  much  fog 
about  me,  except  when  fishing  off  Cuttyhunk  or  Nantucket  Shoals ; 
and  I  never  fished  there  without  being  enveloped  in  it.  The  cure  for 
that  is  a  pocket  compass,  a  good  dry  boat,  a  lead  line  and  plenty  of 
bait.  I  never  called  a  "  Blue-fish  "  by  a  wrong  name,  nor  the  "  Porgie  " 
a"Scup."  The  "Sea  Bass"  is  not  a  "Hannah  Hill,"  nor  is  the 
"Weak  Fish"  a  "Salt  Water  Trout."  I  could  not  use  great  high- 
toned  words  in  these  pages  even  if  I  wished  to ;  nor  do  I  believe  that 
my  readers  will  be  of  that  class  who  swallow  great  swelling  words  of 
man's  wisdom  and  invention.  I  have  no  excuse  to  offer  the  public 
for  any  absence  of  punctuation  or  grammar,  for  the  printer,  like  the 
underwriter,  is  responsible  for  those  useful  arrangements. 

It  is  my  business,  and  mine  alone,  to  work  up  some  of  the  incidents 
of  73  years,  put  it  in  pamphlet  form,  pay  the  printer  and  sell  it,  pro 
vided  it  has  merit.  It  stands  on  its  own  bottom.  If  the  purchaser, 
after  getting  possession,  has  made  a  satisfactory  bargain,  we  are  even; 
and  if  he.  she  or  it,  is  not  suited,  we  are  even  again.  It  was  my  barrel 
of  flour,  or  my  string  of  fish,  and  as  I  never  recommended  the  quality, 
they  should  have  looked  the  horse  in  the  mouth.  I  do  not  send  the 
fish  to  market  in  a  wheel-barrow,  trumpeting  the  quality  or  kind— it 
is  your  business  to  open  its  gills;  for  who  would  cry  "Stale  fish?" 
I  am  too  old  to  meddle  with  fiction  in  any  shape,  for  it  is  much  easier 
to  catch  fish  with  good,  clean,  live  bait,  than  an  old  dead  winkle. 
Fish  are  not  fools  always,  neither  are  the  majority  of  the  human 
family  full  of  wisdom.  My  experience,  piscatorially,  (as  my  friends 
will  endorse,)  has  been  large,  long  arid  deep,  and  at  my  stand-point  of 
life,  I  have  concluded  that  game  fish  are  much  more  smart  than  the 
human  family,  for  they  never  take  stinking  bait  in  their  mouth,  conse 
quently  they  never  vomit.  No,  never !  Mankind  swoops  up  every 
thing  of  the  book  species  that  is  announced,  provided  it  comes  under 
Turkey  Morocco  and  Gold  Leaf.  I  send  this  book  out  in  its  plain 
Quaker  garb,  extracting  from  it  all  the  scales,  flippers,  backbone,  head 
and  inwards,  leaving  the  purchaser  the  clear  marrow.  In  fact,  it  is 


4  PREFACE. 

• 

like  a  Connecticut  River  Shad,  all  washed  clean  of  fiction,  "  well 
bloated,'"  and  ready  for  broiling.  It  was  not  indeed  necessary  to  pay 
well-known  literary  men  $100  to  do  this^work  of  cleaning  my  fish  for 
market.  I  have  a  good  wife  at  home,  and  between  us  both  we  suc 
ceed,  as  I  think,  successfully ;  at  any  rate,  we  are  equally  interested  in 
the  welfare  or  success  of  the  thing,  and  our  services  are  free ;  this  all 
helps  the  purchaser — and  we  have  decided  that  the  Fish  is  worth 
One  Dollar.  Reader,  what  do  you  think  ? 

But  before  I  close  my  Preface,  let  me  say,  seriously,  you  will  find  in 
the  book  the  narrative  of  a  voyage  occupying  six  months  in  the  brig 
Shepherdess,  Captain  Peter  Storer,  Master,  with  whom  the  author  made 
several  voyages  in  early  life,  commencing  as  cabin  boy.  It  is  rather 
lengthy,  but  as  a  matter  of  history  I  think  you  will  find  it  interesting. 
The  good  old  captain  is  well  known  as  a  perfect  sailor  and  a  strict 
disciplinarian.  He  is  alive  now — as  good  as  new,  and  eighty-seven 
years  old  at  that.  He  was  my  schoolmaster  when  I  was  suffering  with 
that  dreadful  complaint,  the  "  13 -year-old  fever,"  yet  instructed  me 
outside  the  usual  "  Iron  Rule  "  enforced  by  the  "  rope's  end,"  in  which 
discipline  many  a  boy  has  been  ruined.  His  word  was. law,  and  dif 
ferent  from  many  other  skippers,  he  knew  when  men  did  their  duty. 
My  education  under  him  has  endeared  him  to  me,  and  I  take  great 
pleasure  in  respectfully  dedicating  that  portion  of  the  little  book  to 
him.  and  add  the  following,  as  breathing  the  true  sentiments  of 
my  soul : 

"  Let  day  improve  on  day,  and  year  on  year, 
Without  a  pain,  a  trouble  or  a  fear, 
Till  death  unfelt  that  tender  frame  destroy 
In  some  soft  dream,  or  ecstacy  of  joy; 
Peaceful  sleep  out  the  Sabbath  of  the  tomb, 
And  wake  to  raptures  in  a  life  to  come." 

You  will  also  find  my  Trip  to  California  in  1849,  with  many  interest 
ing  incidents.  The  voyage  with  Captain  Peter  Storer,  alluded  to 
before,  is  full  of  incident — nautical,  historical,  piscatorial  and  spice ; 
but  it  is  truth.  Sam  Patch's  last  leap  at  Genesee  Falls,  showing,  as 
Sam  said,  "some  things  can  be  done  as  well  as  others;"  and  I  think 
the  Dish  of  Chowder  of  the  author,  with  his  "  Rolling  Stone  gathers 
no  Moss;"  the  Fish,  Fishing  and  Fishing  Places,  to  choose,  will  at 
least  give  a  good  revenue  for  the  book,  if  it  does  not  immortalize  his 
name. 

C.  F.  HOTCHKISS. 

SHORT  BEACH,  BRANFORD,  CONN.,  April,  1878. 


CONTENTS. 


A  DISH  OF  CHOWDER, 7 

Showing  why  a  "Rolling  Stone  gathers  no  Moss," 
and  including  some  sensible  advice  on  Salt  Water 
Fishing  and  Fishing  Places.  N.  B. — The  author 
never  caught  but  four  fresh-water  fish  in  his  life, 
namely,  two  Suckers,  one  Pickerel  and  an  Alli 
gator. 

A  VOYAGE  UP  THE  MEDITERRANEAN,          .         .         27 
CALIFORNIA  IN  1849, 83 

SAM  PATCH'S  LAST  LEAP, 109 

(Genesee  Falls,  in  1825.) 

RESPECT  TO  AGED  FISHERMEN,         .         .         .  115 

THE  SERPENT  OF  THE  SEA,           .         .         .  .       119 

SHORT  BEACH, 121 

"THROW  A  ROPE,"   ....                   .  125 


A   DISH   OF   CHOWDER. 

A  little  on  the  subject  of  "A  Rolling  Stone  gathers  no  Moss."  —  Some 
thing  on  Old  Age.  —  Considerable  on  Fish,  Fishermen  and  Fishing 
places.  —  A  small  sprinkling  on  "Respect  due  old  Fishermen,"  and 
Anathemas  on  those  who  disturb  others  in  fishing. 

"A  ROLLING  STONE  GATHEIJS  NO  Moss." 


author  is  now  too  old  to  gain  much  wisdom  from 
1  this  spicy  saying.  His  opportunities  are  much  like 
a  shoal  of  blue  fish  —  all  gone  by.  The  tide  of  life  has 
made  its  ebb  and  the  fish  are  all  outside  the  bar,  where 
it  needs  nerve  and  a  strong  arm  to  stem  the  tide  with 
the  oars  and  make  a  good  cast  of  the  squid  in  the  surf. 
I  cheerfully  accept  the  circumstances  and  must  be  con 
tent  with  shore  fishing,  where  things  are  quiet  and  the 
fish  smaller.  The  future  of  my  fishing  must  be  in 
smoother  waters,  a  small  skiff,  nicely  moored  in  the  eddy 
of  the  tide,  keeping  a  good  lookout  for  squalls,  and 
always  a  harbor  under  my  lee,  choice  basket  of  snack,  a 
small  bottle  of  good  Grenada  (20  years  old),  a  neat  little 
locker  in  the  stern  sheets,  plenty  of  good  fresh  bait  and 
jack-knife  ;  compass  in  my  pocket,  a  good  clear  sun  over 
head,  and  a  plenty  of  time  to  stay  the  tide  out  and  in, 
—  not  encumbered  with  a  greenhorn  cousin  hailing  from 
the  Green  Mountains,  stepping  around  the  boat  as  if  a 


3  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER. 

•'  hodlcr1'  hrd  him  l)y';the  big  toe,  or  flirting  fish  hooks 
loosely  in  the  air,  apparently  trying  to  see  how  near  he 
can  come  to  my  old  gray  eyes  and  not  hit ;  or  yelling 
sufficiently  loud  to  frighten  every  fish  off"  the  reef  in  tell 
ing  me  how  he  kept  school,  and  how  he  used  to  fish  for 
dace  with  pin  hooks,  and  then  how  he  fell  in  love  with 
Mary.  No,  no !  I  have  made  all  the  noise  in  the  world 
that  I  propose  to  make  (unless  I  set  the  world  on  fire  by 
this  book),  and  as  I  prefer  a  "  still  hunt"  so  do  I  prefer 
to  get  into  my  dingey  alone.  Yes,  quietly,  alone  !  unless, 
perhaps,  a  lady  at  the  breakfast  table  begs  a  chance  with 
me  for  the  voyage,  conditional  that  her  dear  little  five- 
year  old  Judy  shall  remain  at  home,  and  that  short  skirts 
shall  be  the  order  for  the  day,  because  an  eight-foot  boat 
can't  hold  everything.  Long  trails  are  much  better 
operating  on  a  sidewalk  than  as  a  bailing  dish  to  a  boat. 
When  the  ladies,  dear  souls  !  get  into  my  boat  with 
these  trails,  I  admire  them  so  much  for  soaking  up  the 
water,  that  I  quietly  put  my  two  large  sponges  in  the 
locker.  Then  every  tub  is  on  its  own  bottom. 

But  the  matter  of  Fishing.  Why  so  much  of  it  ?  Can 
it  be  possible  that  you  adopt  it  as  the  best  hobby  you 
can  ride?  Yes;  I  certainly  have.  I  favor  it  first  from 
inclination,  for  I  Avas  born  under  the  zodiac  sign,  the 
"  feet."  It  is  a  healthy  and  amusing  hobby.  It  can  be 
enjoyed  with  more  economy,  and  the  fish  as  a  food  feeds 
the  brain ;  and  beside,  while  enjoying  this  hobby,  the 
mind  is  improved.  It  is  a  glorious  good  place  for  reflec 
tion,  and  with  a  good  Havana  cigar  it  tends  to  make  a 
person  forget  his  enemies  and  forgive  his  friends.  He  is 
even  more  charitable  to  the  poor;  his  surplus  game  goes 
Scott  free  to  his  friends,  the  rich  and  poor  alike.  It  is 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER.  9 

not  like  the  Fast  Horse  hobby  (your  2.20  horse),  for  which 
you  have  just  paid  $5,000  more  or  less,  and  who  died 
last  night.  Perhaps  his  death  saved  your  life,  the  day 
after !  With  a  horse,  the  life  of  the  driver  compared  to 
a  boat  and  its  skipper,  is  1  to  500  in  favor  of  the  boat. 
The  harness  and  wagon,  with  its  pins,  buckles,  straps, 
<fcc.,  make  350  chances  against  you,  and  the  kinks  in  the 
horse's  disposition  count  150  more.  Now  my  boat, 
and  all  her  traps,  ropes,  oars,  rowlocks,  with  me  in 
charge,  is  free  from  all  risk,  excepting  my  falling  over 
board  by  over-drinking  that  old  Grenada— and  you  may 
hunt  down  the  ages  to  come  for  that  proof.  Yes,  yes  ! 
It  is  my  hobby  to  fish,  and  yet  I  never  sold  a  fish  in  my 
life.  The  surplus  have  gone  to  my  neighbors. 

If  I  ever  wanted  25  pounds  and  upwards  of  striped 
bass,  or  10  pounds  and  upwards  of  blue  fish,  I  just  took 
a  trip  to  Cuttyhunk  or  Montauk  Point,  anchored  outside 
the  breakers  and  threw  into  the  surf.  I  seldom  failed  at 
either  place.  If  it  was  60  to  100  pounds  of  drum  fish, 
take  the  first  of  the  flood  at  Tovvnsend's  Inlet,  stop  with 
Wm.  Doolittle  at  South  Seaville,  by  Cape  May  and  Mill- 
ville  R.  R.  from  Camden.  If  it  was  mackerel,  just  ingra 
tiate  yourself  into  the  good  graces  of  a  smack  skipper 
at  New  York  or  New  London,  and  before  night  I  could 
have  sufficient  fun  for  the  day,  and  harbor  at  night.  But 
don't  you  sleep  aboard,  or,  in  other  words,  don't  try  it. 
Oh,  no,  don't;  for  their  bunks  are  always  full  .  .  . 
Fire  Island  by  L.  I.  R.  R.  to  Babylon.  Splendid  quarters 
at  "Snediker's  House."  He  or  his  successor  will  cater 
for  a  fisherman's  wants  and  charter  "  Capt.  John  "  and 
his  Block  Island  built  dory  (always  use  your  own  gear), 
and  if  you  want  smooth  water  he  will  take  you  down  to 


10  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER. 

Fire  Island  Inlet,  where  it  is  always  so,  or,  if  you  want  it 
rough,  he  will  (if  your  sea  legs  are  good),  give  you  a  run 
outside,  where  you  will  find  from  1st  of  June,  10  to  12- 
pound  blue  fish.  In  two  hours,  with  the  same  good  skip 
per,  your  humble  servant  hauled  in  over  1000  pounds, 
and  weighing  from  7  to  15  pounds  each.  But  you  want 
leather  cots  on  two  fingers  and  thumb  of  each  hand  or 
you  will  sigh  for  home.  And  then,  again,  at  the  same 
place,  on  the  1st  to  20th  of  October,  the  fish  are  well  fed 
and  bound  south  to  winter,  but  they  always  stop  in  this 
inlet  just  to  clean  it  out  of  all  the  bait ;  and  it  is  done 
pretty  quickly.  Use  a  metal  jig  and  heavy  linen  cod 
line.  The  landlord  will  put  up  a  good  snack  and  send  a 
carriage  to  and  from  the  dory.  It  is  the  cleanest,  neat 
est  fishing  in  the  world.  We  never  unhook  the  rascals. 
They  can  beat  you  at  that  game.  You  just  throw  the 
ravenous  critter  into  the  boat,  line  and  all.  These  boats 
are  roomy  and  smart.  Take  plenty  of  good  cigars ; 
Capt.  John  likes  them,  if  you  don't. 

If  you  want  a  shorter  trip,  try  it  at  Watch  Hill  for 
five  pounds  and  upwards  blue  fish.  You  must  always 
have  good  sea  legs  on  for  outside  fishing.  It  is  well  to 
run  Narraganset  Beach,  wind  off  shore,  with  a  long  trail 
for  blue  fish.  Take  the  harpoon  along  for  an  occasional 
swrord  fish.  Off  New  London  harbor  you  can  generally 
get  good  fun,  and  if  you  fail  you  can  buy  of  other  boats 
at  a  cheap  rate  and  take  the  Shore  Line  R.  R.  home 
three  times  a  day.  Your  friends  need  not  put  you  under 
oath  as  to  the  "  silver  hooks,"  and  New  Londoners  never 
peach  on  their  customers. 

Reader — I  have  a  desire  that  you  should  try  your  luck 
at  Montauk  Point,  with  a  heavy  squid  as  before  men- 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER.  11 

tioned,  and  if  it  is  a  failure  you  just  go  on  the  beach 
outside,  facing  the  Atlantic,  ten  rods  or  more  from  the 
light,  make  the  better  end  of  your  line  fast  above  high 
water  mark,  coil  up  your  line  for  a  long  throw,  follow 
the  receding  comber,  and  before  he  comes  rolling  back 
send  the  squid  outside  the  second  sea ;  then  up  the  bank 
for  your  life,  and  I  will  insure  you  a  15-pound  weak  fish, 
or  a  blue  tish  of  the  same  size.  But  you  must  do  it 
early  in  October.  Here  let  me  say  that  you  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  finding  a  home  with  the  keeper.  I  never 
knew  a  real  genuine  fisherman  to  be  refused  hospitality 
in  such  places.  I  never  knew  a  mean,  purse-proud,  stingy 
fisherman.  I  have  tried  it  from  Cape  May  to  Nantucket, 
including  Long  Island  Sound  ;  from  New  Haven  to  Mon- 
tauk  Point,  both  on  the  main  and  island  side,  and  always 
found  good  quarters,  not  forgetting  Plum  Gut  or  Gard 
ner's  Bay.  A  real  fisherman  is  a  true  philosopher.  If 
the  fish  won't  bite  he  always  sees  a  reason  for  it,  and  you 
never  find  him  mixed  up  with  a  parcel  of  larks  who  are 
always  ready  for  fun,  and,  like  the  dog  in  the  manger, 
"  neither  fish  nor  cut  bait."  The  fisherman  is  ready  to 
take  any  quarters  offered  him.  He  never  ridicules  the 
look  of  the  table  cloth  or  the  soiled  apron  of  the  hostess  ; 
never  leaves  his  fishing  boots  in  the  sitting  room,  nor 
asks  the  price  of  board.  If  he  has  two  or  three  real 
genuine  cronies  who  have  been  tried  in  the  piscatorial 
scales,  who  understand  the  ropes,  not  given  to  drink,  or 
grumbling  under  any  circumstances,  and  who  never 
"  stow  away  bait "  or  refuse  to  "  pull  kelleck  "  when  or 
dered,  and  who  never  mutiny  or  tell  family  secrets,  then 
the  landlord  is  ready  to  respond  to  your  request  to  go 
a-fishing.  But,  if  otherwise,  he  "  shuts  pan  "  on  all  appli- 


12  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER. 

cations  for  that  voyage.  I  would  not  go  fishing  with  a 
promiscuous  set  of  people  any  sooner  than  I  would  steal 
bait. 

1  got  my  foot  in  that  kind  of  mud  once,  and  that  will 
answer  for  life. 

It  was  made  up  that  we  should  charter  a  Green  port 
smack  for  a  week's  fishing.  Stores  were  laid  in  freely  at 
New  Haven,  sweethearts  and  wives  all  kissed,  and  we  on 
our  way  down  Sound.  The  craft  could  scarcely  stow 
away  in  bunks  three  persons  beside  the  skipper  and  boy, 
much  less  the  dozen  u  wild  cats "  that  we  numbered. 
Sleep  was  out  of  the  question.  The  toddy  stick  danced 
in  the  glasses.  The  small  stores  were  hoggishly  strewed 
about  the  cabin  and  decks.  The  skipper  had  orders  to 
run  for  Shagwanna  Reef.  The  wind  was  light  from  the 
westward  and  the  tide  ebb.  The  noise  in  the  cabin  was 
being  quieted  down.  I  said  to  the  skipper,  "It  is  now 
about  daylight.  I  know  the  way  down  Sound,  and,  as 
we  have  cut  off  your  sleep,  suppose  you  get  a  nap ;  but 
leave  the  boy  with  me  and  we  will  call  you  if  necessary." 
The  old  man  crawled  into  the  hold  at  the  side  of  the 
well,  boots  and  clothes  all  on  (nautically,  "  all  standing"), 
and  in  five  minutes  snored  loud  and  deep.  We  were 
down  abreast  of  Faulkner's  Island  at  sunrise,  with  barely 
steering  way  on  her.  I  made  a  confidant  of  my  little 
companion,  took  a  good  long  warp,  made  fast  to  the 
small  boat,  gave  the  boy  50  cents,  sheared  the  smack 
close  inside  of  "  Light  House  Kock,"  jumped  into  the 
small  boat,  gave  her  a  shear,  and  landed  safely  without 
a  jar  to  the  smack  or  boat.  The  little  chap  hauled  his 
wind,  and  down  Sound  he  went.  The  dog,  "Watch," 
rightly  named,  was  on  guard,  raising  the  question  of 


A    DISH     OF    CHOWDER.  13 

trespass,  and  forbade  my  crawling  up  the  bank.  This 
brought  out  the  family,  with  the  good,  kind  Eli  Kimberly 
at  the  lead.  He  called  the  dog  off,  bade  me  come  up 
and  report  myself.  I  did  so  and  gave  him  my  name, 
adding  that  the  smack  yonder  had  a  jolly  set  of  boys  on 
board,  bound  down  Sound  on  a  fishing  frolic,  and  that  I 
had  mutinied,  and  for  the  trespass  committed  by  landing 
on  his  island,  I  craved  his  forgiveness.  1  was  introduced 
to  his  family,  called  in  to  a  splendid  breakfast,  my  story 
told  with  considerable  satisfaction,  in  that  I  was  so  sud 
denly  transferred  from  a  "  hell  on  earth,"  to  a  cluster  of 
souls  congenial  in  every  respect,  and  here  began  an  inti 
macy  and  friendship  that  was  bright  and  warm  till  the 
day  of  his  death.  On  this  island,  which  lies  abreast  of 
Guilford,  five  miles  from  the  main,  I  found  splendid  fish 
ing  among  the  reefs  and  rocks,  and  with  the  old  patriarch 
and  his  family  always  found  a  welcome.  When  he  re 
signed  his  responsibilities  on  the  island,  he  very  kindly 
gave  me  an  introduction  to  Capt.  Oliver  N.  Brooks,  his 
successor,  and  I  was  highly  honored  by  being  installed 
into  his  beautiful  and  happy  family,  with  whom  I  have 
ever  since  received  a  happy  welcome.  God  bless  them  all.* 
The  writer,  until  within  three  years  has  had  glorious 
fishing  at  this  island  through  the  kindness  and  direction 

*  Faulkner's  Island  Light  was  established  by  the  Government  in 
1801.  It  has  had  but  four  different  keepers.  Eli  Kimberly  occupied 
that  position  33  years  and  was  succeeded  by  Capt.  Oliver  N.  Brooks, 
Nov.  18,  1851,  and  the  same  gentleman  is  yet  in  charge.  Of  its  early 
keepers  I  have  no  data.  The  island  is  fast  reducing  in  length  and 
breadth  by  reason  of  gales.  I  consider  Home  Fishing  here  and  vicinity 
better  than  I  have  ever  found,  and  the  hospitality  extended  me  off  and 
on  for  30  years  by  both  families  is  without  its  parallel. 


14  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDEK. 

of  both  Mr.  Kiraberly  and  his  successor,  Mr.  Brooks,  in 
company  with  Uncle  Fred.  Lines,  his  nephew  Augustus 
E.  Lines,  and  Eli  Kimberly,  2d,  and  we  sometimes  dis 
cussed  the  adventures  over  an  annual  dinner,  at  which 
time  the  poet  tried  his  hand  for  a  few  verses,  of  which 
those  which  presently  follow  were  counted  the  best. 
Death  has  made  an  inroad  among  us  and  the  old  patri 
arch,  Eli  Kimberly,  Esq.,  and  our  bosom  friend  Uncle 
Fred.  Lines,  the  jolly  Good  Samaritan,  have  both  been 
called  from  our  ranks,  and  are  waiting  in  the  grave  for 
the  second  coming  of  him  whom  they  both  loved  and 
served  faithfully.  Our  harps  are  on  the  willows ;  out 
ranks  are  broken ;  we  mourn  their  loss,  and  "  but  a  little 
longer  stay"  ourselves. 

The  present  occupant  of  Faulkner's  Island,  Capt. 
Oliver  N.  Brooks,  like  his  predecessor,  is  a  humane,  kind- 
hearted  gentleman,  a  perfect  boatman  and  a  Christian ; 
the  family,  a  pattern  for  the  world  ;  and  the  world  will 
say  "Amen  "  to  my  assertion.  They  are  all  adapted  to 
the  position, — with  a  "  Grace  Darling  "  among  them  who 
can  aid  the  father  in  cases  of  shipwreck  on  those  rocky 
surroundings,  or  as  gently  touch  the  keys  of  a  piano,  or 
the  violin  strings  as  any  professor  of  music.  And  if  a 
sudden  emergency  should  arise  requiring  a  broiler  or  a 
chowder,  she  can  take  the  boat  and  catch  and  clean  the 
fish  just  as  neatly  as  the  father  can;  but  neither  of 
them  would  expect  to  catch  a  game  fish  with  the  wind 
to  the  eastward.  Salt  water  fishermen  will  please  take 
note. 

And  now  for  the  poetry,  thought  to  be  "  sum  punkins  " 
when  introduced,  and  extolled  wonderfully  by  those 
present  at  the  table.  The  author  began  to  think  it  did 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDEK.  15 

have  some  merit,  but  as  he  cast  his  eye  around  the  table 
and  remembered  that  every  soul  present,  including  the 
ladies,  was  admitted  by  the  city  at  large  to  be  much 
better  judges  in  piscatorial  matters  than  poetry,  he  felt 
more  like  taking  his  hat  and  cigar  and  retiring  from  the 
thunders  of  applause  that  were  tendered.  For  who  ever 
knew  a  Xo.  1  master  of  a  ship  to  be  a  good  merchant  ? 
or  a  fisherman  a  good  poet  ?  It  is  not  in  the  nature  of 
things.  Therefore,  I  promise  to  be  found  in  the  piscato 
rial  ranks  all  the  rest  of  my  days.  It  is  a  trade  I  gave 
particular  attention  to  all  through  life  from  five  years 
old  and  upwards  (began  at  the  creek  which  in  1810  was 
navigable  for  my  "dug  out"  from  the  sea  to  Grand  St., 
in  New  Haven),  and  will  probably  be  closed  out  at  Short 
Beach,  Branford. 


TO    ELI    KIMBERLY,    ESQ.,    OF    GUILFORD. 

FROM    HIS   FRIEND    C.    F.    H. 

In  Eighteen  Hundred  Sixty-four,  'twas  June, — 
I  think  the  thirteenth  day,  not  far  from  noon ; 
'Twas  early  in  the  week,  I  well  remember ; — 

Three  men  with  carpet  bags  well  lined, 
Emerged  from  State  street  with  anxiety  to  find 
The  Shore  Line  road  that  leads  down  East, 
Where  lives  a  hero  whose  locks  are  bleached. 

A  council  they  had  held  for  weeks 
With  Beckwith,  whom  everybody  seeks 
If  they  intend  a  voyage  to  make, 
Where  tides  or  winds  or  moons  dictate. 


16  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER. 

The  elder  of  the  three  was  tall  and  slim,- 
I'm  sure  there  is  no  mistaking  him  ; 
We  call  him  "  Good  Samaritan." 
Ask  all  the  poor  within  this  region. 

He  always  wears  about  his  neck, 
Both  when  he  sleeps  and  when  awake, 
A  white  cravat, — it  is  his  custom  ; 
And  he's  often  taken  for  a  Parson. 

The  other  two  were  younger  men, 
The  elder,  past  two  score  and  ten ; 
We  often  see  him  loud  in  clamor, 
As  he  drops  his  auction  hammer. 

'Twas  said  in  early  days  of  him, 
That  by  his  name,  he  sure  was  kin 
To  Hotchkiss,  whom  you  well  remember, 
Stole  all  the  sheep  away  up  yonder. 

I  knew  him  well  when  quite  a  youngster, 
He  always  was  inclined  to  wander ; 
He  was  a  wicked,  independent  chap — 
0  how  the  master  whaled  his  back ! 

I've  known  him  when  but  quite  a  boy, 
To  rob  hen-roosts  and  e'en  destroy 
Every  old  maid's  cat  within  a  mile, 
And  sell  the  skins  for  quite  a  pile. 

But  why  detain  you  longer,  friends  ? 
We'll  leave  the  youngster  in  his  sins, 
And  pray  by  the  help  of  God,  he  may 
Reform  and  be  a  man  some  day. 

But  to  my  story.     And  where's  the  last 
Of  these  three  gents  who  walked  so  fast 
That  one  would  think  them  on  a  wager, 
Or  else  had  drank  their  full  of  lager  ? 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER.  17 

He  was  younger  than  the  other  men, 
And  by  attention  to  his  trade,  when 
Engravers  were  either  fast  asleep  or  tired, 
Accomplished  twice  as  much  as  men  that's  hired. 

He  was  active,  thorough  and  up  betimes, 
A  habit  quite  peculiar  to  the  Lines, 
For  he  and  "  Uncle  Fred."  could  shoot 
Full  twenty  rods  and  kill  a  coot. 

"Well,  off  they  started  down  the  street, 
Their  tickets  paid,  each  one  seat, 
To  Guilford,  in  the  Nutmeg  State, 
Where  Eli  third  had  dug  the  bait. 

From  the  depot  where  the  cars  do  meet, 
I  saw  them  start  for  Harbor  street, 
Where  lives  our  friend  and  his  good  wife, 
A  way -from  all  that  tends  to  strife. 

Favored  man,  to  have  so  kind  a  wife, 
To  sooth  the  sorrows  of  a  declining  life ! 
'Tis  beautiful,  indeed,  thus  hand  in  hand, 
To  cheer  each  onward  to  the  promised  land. 

But  to  my  story,  and  then  to  bed, 
To  dream  of  fish  hooks,  "  lines  "  and  lead, 
Old  Faulkner,  too,  must  have  a  share, 
Unless  thrown  out  by  "  Old  Nightmare." 

At  last  the  morning  camo,  'twas  bright  and  clear, 
The  sun  not  up  but  mighty  near  ; 
The  wind  was  light,  about  South-west, 
The  breakfast  one  of  Madam's  best. 

Well,  there  was  Minnie,  that  good  boat, 
As  good  as  if  made  of  solid  oak ; 
She  turned  her  head  about  South-west, 
And  away  she  sped  to  do  her  best. 


18  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER, 

Old  Faulkner,  she  was  there  in  sight, 
Goose  Island,  too,  loomed  up  quite  bright, 
North-rocks,  three-quarter,  also,  by  reason  of  the  ebb. 
Had  just  begun  to  show  their  head. 

"  Ease  off  the  sheet,"  the  old  man  roared, 
"  The  wind  is  free,  haul  up  the  board ! 
Head  her  for  the  wharf,  stand  by  your  line, 
Let's  call  on  'Brooks,'  and  save  the  fine." 

And  now  the  "  permit  "  kindly  granted, 
Winkles  bagged,  the  wharf  inspected, 
Fish  hooks  sharpened,  kelleck  ready. 
Away  they  went  for  outer  Stony. 

And  then  to  work  with  hooks  all  bright. 
The  fish  are  coming  left  and  right ; 
"  Bal"  says  the  old  man,  "  what's  the  matter, 
With  Uncle  Fred,  in  such  a  splatter  ?" 

"  First  fish!"  my  boy,  and  such  a  lounder, 
As  Eli  hauled  an  awful  flounder  ; 
"  Ha!  it  don't  count,"  rung  in  the  air 
As  Hotchkiss  hauled  a  pretty  pair. 

"  Now  go  it,  Gussy,  that's  the  kind, 
Don't  loose  him,  play  him,  give  him  line." 
i(  Hurrah  for  Uncle  Fred  1"  one  said, 
As  in  he  hauled  a  hook  and  lead. 

"  Come,  it's  time  to  car,"  the  old  man  said, 
"  Let's  save  the  lish  before  they're  dead; 
We  counted  in  an  awful  number, 
Including  the  skipper's  line  and  sinker. 

"  Hurrah  I"  the  whole  boat's  crew  did  cry, 
As  in  the  stern  sheets  they  could  spy 
The  old  rat  hauling  by  the  pair 
Another  line, — he  always  has  a  spare. 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER.  19 

"  Hurrah !  Hurrah  1  the  boat  I   the  boat ! 
*'  They  cried,"  she'll  never  float 
With  all  these  fish,  let's  kelleck  pull ; 
"  By  Jingo  I  it's  true  she's  nearly  full." 

Poor  Minnie,  as  she  started  in, 

"With  all  this  precious  load  of  sin, 

"With  fish  well  stowed  in  every  nook, 

She  seemed  to  whisper,  "  Who's  high  hook  ?" 

Now  all  good  people  on  the  Bay 
As  Minnie  turned  her  head  that  way, 
Came  looking  in  her,  every  nook, 
And  cried  aloud,  "  Who's  high  hook?" 

The  old  man,  then,  with  face  all  bright, 
His  left  eye  squint,  his  mouth  all  right, 
Replied,  "  My  friend,  this  is  no  fiction, 
For  Hotchkiss  catches  all  creation." 

So  now,  old  friend,  I  send  the  jacket, 
To  keep  you  dry  amid  the  racket ; 
My  prayers  to  G-od  shall  never  cease 
That  in  Paradise  we  meet  in  peace. 


If  the  reader  is  inclined  for  a  fare  of  black  fish,  with 
an  occasional  sea  bass,  he  should  try  old  "  Shagwanna," 
— the  East  end  on  the  ebb  tide,  and  West  on  the  flood. 
The  reef  lies  inside  of  Montauk  Point  on  the  island  side. 
You  need  a  hand  lead  line  in  case  the  Rip  shows  itself. 
With  small  lobster  and  good  sized  clams  for  bait  you 
can't  miss  them,  say  two  hours  on  the  ebb  through  slack 
water  and  one  hour  flood.  You  can  get  to  it  from  Xew 
London,  Sag  Harbor,  or  Plum  Gut.  If  you  are  not  short 
ened  for  time,  try  it  in  the  Race  with  three  hT)oks  about 
half  an  hour  on  the  low-water  slack.  It  will  pay  you, 


20  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDEB. 

sure.  In  the  month  of  October,  you  should  go  to  Green- 
port  or  Sag  Harbor,  pick  out  a  good  boat  and  skipper, 
the  latter  smart,  kindly  disposed,  and  not  too  proud  to 
dig  your  bait ;  not  too  wise  on  national  matters;  not  too 
talkative ;  not  a  rum  sucker,  nor  a  harum-scarum,  swear 
ing  braggadocio,  but  a  good,  quiet  gentleman,  one  who 
knows  sufficient  to  take  good  care  of  his  wife,  boat  and 
passenger.  Rig  yourself  out  with  a  good  set  of  "oilers,'* 
and  never  start  out  with  the  wind  east.  I  say  again, 
take  your  own  gear,  a  small  basket  of  "  snack,"  and  a 
good  jack-knife  in  your  pocket.  Hand  fishing,  remember, 
all  through  this  country.  But,  to  sum  up  the  fishing 
(and  I  have  worked  at  it  more  or  less  for  more  than  a  half 
century),  get  the  acquaintance  of  the  King  of  Faulkner's 
Island,  Capt.  O.  N.  Brooks  and  family ;  carry  good  cre 
dentials  ;  wait  on  yourself;  learn  the  tides  and  the  rocks ; 
get  him  to  show  you  "  Sharp  Rock"  (Stony  Island  Reef), 
"  North  Rocks,"  Shepherd's  Rock,  "  Old  Table  "  (well 
baited  up),  "Outer  ledge,"  on  North  Reef,  East  Reef, 
etc.,  etc.,  and  if  you  don't  thank  me  for  the  suggestion 
I  shall  put  you  down  as  a  person  possessing  neither  good 
judgment  or  entitled  to  the  cognomen  of  a  fisherman. 
But  don't  be  mean  when  you  shake  hands  to  part,  and  if 
he  won't  take  it,  put  it  under  your  plate. 

\  good  fisherman  never  can  be  small  or  mean  if  he 
tries. 

One  more  :  If  by  stress  of  weather  you  are  driven  oif 
shore,  you  just  shape  your  course  for  this  island.  You 
can  make  a  lee  any  time,  and  once  within  his  jurisdiction 
you  will  rejoice  that  you  are  shipwrecked,  for  the  Captain 
and  every  soul  on  the  island  each  have  hearts  as  big  as 
an  ox.  It  would  not  distress  the  writer  if  some  day 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER.  21 

while  he  is  fishing  at  the  "  Cow  and  Calf,"  off  Short 
Beach  in  his  little  eight-foot  dingey,  he  should  lose  his 
row-locks  and  both  oars,  wind  blowing  a  hurricane  N.  W., 
and  be  driven  down  Sound ;  for  if  I  had  Faulkner's 
Island  under  my  lee,  I  would  sing  and  whistle  "Hail, 
Columbia,  happy  land,"  all  the  way  down  to  the  island 
and  shoot  the  dingey  into  his  harbor,  where  many  a 
"greenhorn"  or  shipwrecked  crew  have  found  shelter 
and  a  welcome  from  the  storm.  And  further,  it  would 
not  be  a  very  bitter  pill  to  take  if,  after  hauling  the  little 
dingey  up  on  the  beach,  I  should  get  fog-bound  for  a 
week.  It  is  one  of  the  best  places  for  a  real  genuine, 
genteel  fisherman  on  the  coast.  Of  course  my  reader 
will  understand  the  requisite  qualifications  to  enable  him 
to  enter  into  all  the  privileges  of  this  beautiful  home, 
and  enjoy  fishing  to  his  heart's  content.  But  where  is 
my  text?  "A  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss."  Let  us 
see  how  this  will  apply  to  the  author  during  his  life. 
"  Experience  is  the  best  schoolmaster,"  and  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  those  who  have  this  schooling  are  the 
safest  parties  to  impart  advice. 

At  twelve  years  old,  at  the  New  Township  Academy, 
New  Haven,  corner  of  Chapel  and  Academy  streets,  the 
author  graduated  with  sixty  others  by  defacing  the  school 
room  and  driving  the  master  out  and  up  Chapel  street. 
This  was  my  last  schooling.  [It  was  my  fault,  and  not 
of  my  good  kind  parents.]  I  smuggled  myself  on  board 
a  whale  ship  lying  in  the  cove  at  New  Haven,  and  on 
the  third  day  was  caught  and  sent  ashore.  At  thirteen 
I  went  to  sea  by  consent  of  parents  with  Capt.  Peter 
Storer,  and  followed  up  that  life  till  twenty-two  years 
old.  Married  and  went  into  merchandise,  and  afterwards 


22  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER. 

as  special  sheriff  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.  Returned  to  New 
Haven  ;  ran  a  coaster  to  Albany  ;  moved  to  New  York  ; 
merchandised  eleven  years  or  more  ;  returned  to  New 
Haven  ;  next  packed  beef  in  Illinois ;  moved  to  Ohio 
and  packed  butter  and  pork  ;  returned  to  New  Haven  ; 
opened  an  auction  room  on  Chapel  st;  ran  it  two  years ; 
gained  sufficient  fora  good  outfit  for  California  ;  returned 
and  opened  another  butter  store  in  New  Haven,  and 
afterward  moved  to  Kansas ;  returned  to  New  Haven  ; 
worked  hard ;  began  to  pick  up  the  crumbs  by  the  aid 
of  Gerard  Hallock,  built  a  good  house  corner  of  Columbus 
and  Liberty  streets,  well  furnished  and  paid  for  it ;  made 
an  asylum  for  all  good  pilgrims ;  feasted  them  and  their 
friends;  always  kept  "two  upper  chambers,"  like  the 
Shunamite  woman,  for  the  men  of  God,  without  regard 
to  sect,  age,  or  condition  ;  opened  a  large  auction  room 
on  State  St.;  drove  it  night  and  day;  got  tired;  closed 
it  out  in  six  years ;  made  $2 2,000  ;  wife  sick  with  asthma ; 
moved  to  Vineland,  N.  J.,  invested  $8,000,  fenced  a  farm, 
with  a  nice  cottage,  where  I  could  in  a  few  hours  take  a 
run  down  to  Cape  May  and  fish.  Could  not  get  sufficient 
off  the  farm  to  support  the  family ;  changed  the  farm  for 
property  in  Philadelphia;  made  other  shifts,  but  the  final 
result  was  a  loss.  Returned  to  New  Haven  with  the 
body  of  a  kind,  good  wife,  who  had  shared  in  these  ups 
and  downs  of  life,  without  a  murmur  or  complaint.  Had 
sufficient  capital  for  any  reasonable  business ;  put  in 
$10,000  in  real  estate,  reserving  sufficient  for  an  auction 
business.  Ran  the  latter  two  years,  but  the  business 
was  spoiled  or  else  the  writer  was,  and  wound  it  up,  the 
former  a  total  loss — and  every  other  piece  of  real  estate 
met  the  same  result.  But  I  never  whine  nor  grumble. 


A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER.  25 

So,  one  clay,  seated  in  my  old  arm  chair,  reviewing  the 
past  scenes  of  life,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  "A  roll- 
stone  gathers  no  moss."  One  word  now  on  friends.  If 
you  succeed  by  hard  knocks  to  get  a  little  of  the  ready,, 
you  may  be  sure  that  FRIENDS  will  be  after  it.  It  is 
your  bosom  FRIENDS  that  you  need  to  fear.  It  may  be 
your  case  as  in  mine,  those  "  with  whom  you  walk  to 
gether  to  the  House  of  God."  If  you  have  not  the 
courage  to  say  ISIO  when  these  friends  apply  for  your 
endorsement,  go  home  and  ask  counsel  of  your  wife  ;. 
after  this,  should  you  decide  to  give  him  your  name,  for 
God's  sake  don't  endorse  beyond  your  ability  to  pay,, 
and  then  do  it  like  a  man,  without  the  aid  of  the  Bank 
rupt  Law.  I  thank  God  that  I  never  went  through  that 
gate,  though  it  was  enacted  for  the  honest  man.  The 
time  was  when  men's  word  was  as  good  as  their  bondr 
and  endorsers  were  protected ;  but  no\y  "  men  are  truce 
breakers,"  "  incontinent  and  liars."  The  "  truth  is  not 
in  them."  Remember  that  if  you  lend  your  name,  you 
lose  your  money  and  your  friend  both. 

Ecclesiasticus  is  truthful  when  he  says,  "  Many  a  thing 
was  lent  them,  reckoned  it  to  be  found,  and  put  them  to 
trouble  that  helped  them."  "  Till  he  hath  received  he 
will  kiss  a  man's  hand,  and  for  his  neighbor's  money  he 
will  speak  submissively ;  but  when  he  should  repay  he 
will  prolong  the  time,  return  words  of  grief  and  complain 
of  the  time ;  many,  therefore,  have  refused  to  lend  for 
other  men's  ill  dealings,  fearing  to  be  defrauded.  Surety 
ship  hath  undone  many  of  good  estate  and  shaken  them 
as  the  waves  of  the  sea,  mighty  men  hath  it  driven  from 
their  houses  so  that  they  wandered  among  strange 
nations.  But — forgive  thy  neighbor  the  hurt  he  hath 


24  A    DISH    OF    CHOWDER. 

done  thee.     So  shall  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee  when  thou 
prayest." 

Now  a  few  words  of  advice  to  inexperienced  fishermen. 
Approach  a  spot  where  others  are  engaging  in  the  same 
amusement  with  great  caution  and  stillness.  Give  your 
neighbor  a  good  berth,  and  never  drop  your  boat  over 
his  fishing  ground.  Never  slam  your  "  kelleck  "  over, 
but  guide  it  carefully  to  the  bottom,  and  as  she  tails  to 
the  tide  or  wind,  be  sure  that  the  boat  swings  clear  of 
your  neighbor.  Always  carry  a  good  long  warp  that  you 
may  carefully  drop  down  over  new  ground.  If  your 
neighbor  is  successful,  don't  disturb  him  with  noise  or 
movement  of  any  kind.  Fish  can  hear  better  than  you 
can  (old  philosophy  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding), 
and  by  reckless  movements  you  drive  the  fish  off  from 
any  small  reef.  In  a  quiet  day  I  can  drive  a  shoal  of 
porpoises  out  of  ^our  bay  by  a  few  taps  on  the  gunwale 
of  my  boat ;  but  if  I  am  on  a  reef  of  small  dimensions 
and  do  this,  I  may  as  well  up  kelleck,  go  home  and  fish 
in  the  well  as  to  expect  a  black  fish  or  sea  bass  to  take 
the  hook  for  a  half  hour.  Do  you  purposely  enter  a 
trout  stream  through  brush  heaps  and  wood-choppers  ? 
No;  you  approach  that  stream  on  tip-toe,  lest  the  game 
should  be  alarmed.  Well,  apply  the  same  care  in  your 
operations  with  salt  water  fish,  otherwise  you  never  will 
be  "  high  hook  "  in  that  region.  When  I  get  a  shoal  of 
blue  or  weak  fish  around  my  boat  I  seal  my  lips  and 
"  throw  stosh  "  till  the  last ;  and,  if  they  break  off  short 
and  suddenly,  I  know  it's  all  up  in  that  location.  The 
shark  or  porpoise  drove  them  off,  or  the  same  result  by 
a  passing  boat  or  the  change  of  tide.  If  I  was  a  young 
man,  inclined  to  fish  from  a  boat,  I  would  as  soon  rob  an 


A    DISH    OF    CHO WDER.  25 

old  fisherman  of  his  toddy  as  to  disturb  him  while  he  is 
fishing.  Then  give  him  a  good  berth  and  see  that  the 
sin  of  disturbing  him  while  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  oc 
cupation  don't  lay  at  your  door.  Take  no  loud  talkers 
with  you  in  your  boat.  Do  as  I  do,  better  go  alone,  with 
a  conscience  void  of  offence  toward  God  or  man.  But, 
above  all  things,  don't  disturb  anybody  in  fishing,  and 
then,  if  called  upon  to  explain,  throw  yourself  on  your 
dignity  and  tell  the  old  man  to  help  himself,  for  "the 
waters  are  free  to  all."  I  have  heard  this  too  much. 
"Ye  are  my  witnesses."  I  believe  that  a  soul  guilty  of 
this  crime  of  disturbing  an  old  fisherman  is  as  liable  to 
be  lost  as  for  theft. 

And  now,  when  you  can't  find  a  better  place  on  the 
shore  to  summer  and  fish,  come  to  my  boarding  house, 
Short  Beach,  Branford,  Conn.;  stages  three  times  a 
day,  from  New  Haven.  Price  of  board,  $10.00  a  week. 
Open  June  1st  to  November. 


A  VOYAGE  UP  THE  MEDITERRANEAN. 

Foot  of  Wall  street,  New  York— 1000  people  on  the  Dock— Fasts 
singled — Strange  interference — Wild  scenes  in  James  st. — New  life 
to  surrounding — Skipper  cries  "Let  go." — Pilot  assumes  his  duties 
—Mutiny— Sam  the  cook— Signal  for  off  Pilot— Stand  by  for  Pilot 
boat — Farewell— Bang  went  the  Carronade — Put  her  E.  S.  E. — 
Sealing  in  Massafuro— Off  Western  Islands — "Ize  no  'lijah,  Massa" 
— Sam's  faith — A  Ship's  Spar — Sea  Bass  weighing  25  Ibs.  each — 
The  boy  high  hook— Sam's  Chowder— Kev.  Goodell— Shark  and  his 
Pilot — Boy  victorious — Rushing  scenes  on  deck — Sam's  soliloquy  on 
Turtle — Jim  Cook  overboard — Whistling  for  a  Breeze— Whirrah  ! 
for  a  spanking  Breeze — Shaped  course  for  Cape  St.  Vincent — At 
anchor  in  Gibraltar  Bay— Nations  under  tribute  to  Gibraltar— Siege 
of  Gibraltar — Moorish  Jew  and  petit  Senorita— Departure  for  Malta 
— Wonderful  escape  off  Mount  Stromboli — A  Levanter — Honor  to 
whom  Honor  is  due — Rub  and  Go  is  a  good  Pilot — Quarantine  mum- 
merv — Sam  's  away  down  in  Dixy — Men  hanging  in  chains — Turkey 
Buzzards — St.  Paul's  Church  at  Malta — Napoleon's  Raid — Smoke 
House  at  Lazaretta— Knights  of  Malta  and  Jerusalem — Ancient  City 
of  Mileta-St.  Paul's  Cave — Ladrone  of  the  Ancient  City — Hard 
Fight  on  the  Marina — Sam  to  the  rescue — Departure  for  Sicily — 
Mount  ^Etna — 20,000  people  on  the  Marina— Earthquake  at  Messina 
— Inspection  of  yKtna  by  the  author  and  Commodore  Elisha  Peck, 
of  New  Haven  — History  by  ancient  Authors — 93,000  people  de 
stroyed — Adieu  to  Sicily — Homeward  Bound  with  80  sail  of  Vessels 
— A  severe  Gale — Sam  again  a  Hero — Many  a  slip  between  the  cup 
and  the  lip — Vessel  on  her  beam  ends — Cowardice  of  Sailors — 
Skipper  a  Host !  read  it,  read  it,  for  the  author  cannot  do  the  sub 
ject  justice — "  Ye  cowards,  you !  try  the  pumps  and  go  below  till  I 


28  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

call  you"— Continuous  Gale — Soundings  off  Chincoteage  Shoal — 
Codfish  plenty — Blown  off  the  Coast  three  times — Anchored  in  the 
Horse  Shoe — Author's  life  again  saved  by  Sam  when  knocked  off 
main  yard  ;  never  born  to  be  drowned. 

T^IFTY-SIX  years  ago  the  neat  little  full-rigged  brig 
I  Shepherdess,  owned  by  Hotchkiss  &  Harrison,  of 
New  Haven,  formerly  a  crack  Charleston  packet,  under 
Capt.  Bill  Lines,  but  in  1822  in  charge  of  Capt,  Peter 
Storer,  who  is  now  resting  on  his  laurels  in  his 
own  Snug  Harbor  at  Westville,  full  fourscore  years 
and  seven,  hale  and  hearty,  a  true  gentleman  and 
a  genuine  old  salt, — lay  at  the  dock  foot  of  Wall 
street,  New  York,  bound  to  the  Mediterranean,  having 
on  board  Revs.  Goodell  and  Bird  with  their  wives, 
for  the  Palestine  Mission,  and  to  be  landed  at  Malta. 
Everything  about  the  little  craft  was  neat  and  tidy  as  a 
man-of-war, — topsails  sheeted  home,  fasts  singled,  and  a 
large  concourse  of  people  on  the  dock  to  bid  adieu  to 
missionaries,  with  the  usual  number  of  dock  wallopers 
without  any  particular  object  in  view.  The  wind  strong 
N.  W.  over  the  city,  the  tide  just  on  the  ebb,  the  skipper 
and  pilot  stood  on  the  quarter-deck  in  the  wake  of  the 
main  rigging,  and  your  humble  servant  at  the  wheel, 
where  the  former  cast  an  eye  as  if  to  learn  whether  that 
post  was  filled,  and  seemingly  just  ready  to  nudge  the 
pilot  that  all  was  ready,  when  a  great  commotion  was 
seen  on  the  dock.  A  colored  man  in  full  speed,  swing 
ing  his  hat,  running,  crying  u  Hold  on  !  Hold  on  !  Cap 
tain."  (A  singular  interference  certainly.)  "  What  do 
you  want  ?"  cried  the  skipper,  as  he  stretched  his  head 
over  the  crowd  of  people.  "  Stop  a  minute,  Captain  !" 
came  from  the  messenger,  as  he  made  his  way  through 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITEERANEAN.  29 

the  throng  and  placed  one  foot  on  the  wharf  log,  caught 
his  breath,  and,  pointing  to  the  cook  who  sat  in  the  door 
of  his  "  galley,"  "  Here,  you,  Jim  Butterfield,  come 
ashore !  Your  old  woman  is  dying  in  New  Haven. 
Come  ashore,  dis  minit !  I'se  telling  you  de  trufe ;  don't 
you  go  dis  vige.  Jump  ashore,  Jim  !  Yuse  got  a  baby, 
Jim  and — " 

We  heard  no  more,  but  the  shouts  of  the  people  and 
dive  that  the  old  cook  made  for  the  dock  was  a  splendid 
scene  for  an  artist,  for  he  grasped  the  hand  of  the  mes 
senger,  jumped  the  rail,  and  up  the  dock  they  went,  and 
he,  like  a  faithful  husband,  left  all  his  dunnage  behind, 
the  vessel  without  a  cook,  not  even  saying  to  the  skipper 
"  by  y°ur  leave,  sir."  Capt.  Peter  had  stood  in  his  usual 
position  with  a  smile  more  of  pity  than  anger.  Casting 
his  eye  aloft  he  spanned  all  the  surroundings,  w^hile  the 
little  craft,  like  a  high-spirited  horse,  was  chafing  as  the 
wind  gave  an  increased  pressure  to  the  canvass  and  bid 
fair  to  part  her  fastenings  or  carry  away  her  spars.  He 
turned  to  the  mate,  Mr.  Alfred  Thomas,  brother  of  our 
ex-Postmaster,  L.  A.  Thomas,  Esq.,  and  said,  "Put  the 
main-royal  in  the  beckets,  settle  down  the  topsails  and 
topgallant  sails,  clew  up  the  courses,  furj  the  jib  and 
stay-sail !"  and,  like  a  true  philosopher  as  he  was  a  true 
sailor,  turned  his  eye  to  the  dock,  wrhere  stood  a  number 
of  colored  men,  and  said,  "  Which  of  you  boys  will  ship 
as  cook?  $18.00  a  month,  about  six  months,  and  up  the 
Mediterranean  V  Who  speaks  first  ?"  when  I  heard  a 
clear,  musical  voice  as  though  from  a  speaking  trumpet, 
ring  out  from  between  two  large,  broad,  thick  red  lips, 
and  I  traced  the  sound  to  a  long,  lank  Maryland-looking 
darkey,  who  stood  leaning  on  a  dock  spile,  his  body  six 


30  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

feet  two  high,  with  a  happy  smile  on  his  countenance, 
large  white  eyes,  body  well  dressed,  clean  white  linen 
collar  reaching  to  his  ears,  an  umbrella  and  whip  in  his 
hand,  apparently  about  "  three  sheets  in  the  wind,"  or, 
as  an  Englishman  would  say,  "  'arf  and  'arf ;"  but  some 
how  I  was  favorably  struck  with  the  man,  especially  as 
the  reply  to  the  skipper  came  ricochetting  through  my 
earg_«  I'll  go,  sar."  "  Well,"  says  Capt.  Peter,  "  where's 
your  dunnage  ?"  "  Dase  be  up  to  James  street,  sar." 
"  How  long  will  it  take  to  get  them  and  yourself  back 
here  ?"  "  Jes'  a  few  minits,  sar !"  And  the  captain 
turned  to  me  and  said:  "  Boy,  you  take  this  darkey  and 
in  just  one  hour  return  him  with  his  dunnage,  and  plant 
him  in  the  caboose." 

No  more  words  were  necessary.  I  dropped  the  wheel, 
jumped  on  the  rail,  reached  out  my  hand,  clasped  that 
of  the  darkey,  and  made  a  good  nice  ten-foot  leap  of  it 
and  landed  partly  on  my  feet  and  in  his  arms,  and  as 
we  gathered  for  a  run  I  looked  up  in  his  shining  black 
face  and  asked  his  name.  "  My  name  be's  Sam  Chace, 
massa,"  was  the  reply,  and  away  we  went.  I  chartered 
a  dray  at  the  head  of  the  dock,  turned  up  South  st.  to 
Burling  slip,  turned  into  Water  st.,  while  the  great  long- 
spliced  Sam  had  a  death-like  grip  on  the  forward  rung 
of  the  cart,  and  both  my  arms  around  his  waist,  and  we 
went  John  Gilpin  like  over  the  stones  to  James  st.,  where 
we  were  dumped.  Sam  had  an  eye  to  business,  as  he 
sprang  for  a  gate-way,  into  a  side-yard  full  of  clothes 
and  clothes  lines,  up  an  outside  stairs,' through  a  trap 
door,  which  opened  into  an  old  dilapidated  ball  room, 
where  "  those  that  dance  must  pay  the  fidler."  Half  a 
dozen  colored  females  were  smoking  off  the  fumes  of 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  31 

rum,  "  looking  like  the  sad  effects  of  a  misspent  day." 
But  Sam  did  not  stop  here.  I  sighted  him  as  he  straddled 
over  a  vacancy  in  the  flooring,  down  a  pair  of  stairs  into 
a  grocery  fronting  on  a  lane.  It  may  truly  be  said  "  a 
stern  chase  is  a  long  chase."  Sam's  walking  stilts  were 
useful  as  well  as  ornamental,  but  he  could  beat  the  wind. 
He  steered  straight  to  the  bar,  slammed  in  a  fair  good- 
sized  drink  from  a  decanter,  got  it  to  his  mouth  just  in 
time  for  me  to  "  cork  him,"  and  he  took  it  like  a  philos- 
pher,  threw  down  the  glass  and  sung  out  in  a  very  com 
manding  tone,  "  Here,  landlord !  gin  me  half  gallon  rum 
and  two  pounds  sugar ;  leve  'em  be  in  de  measure  till  I 
want  um.  And  here,  you  Jane  !  go  dis  minit  get  my 
duds.  I'se  going  to  sea  in  fifteen  minits  wid  dis  here  child- 
ers."  And  the  wail  that  went  up  from  the  dozen  women 
present  was  truly  heart-rending.  Jane  exclaimed,  "Now 
Sam,  duz  yuse  mean  de  trufe — youze  goang  to  sea  ?" 
But  there  was  no  time  for  argument  or  reason.  The 
news  of  Sam's  departure  went  through  the  neighborhood 
and  in  five  minutes  we  had  a  large  concourse  of  both 
males  and  females, — some  on  barrels,  boxes,  broken 
chairs,  and  many  that  could  only  lean — the  whole  scene, 
including  the  bar,  forming  a  portion  of  a  circle  was  lively 
in  the  extreme,  Sam  standing  in  a  position  commanding 
a  view  of  the  whole.  The  landlord,  as  ordered,  put  in 
two  quarts  more  of  rum  in  the  measure,  each  but  the 
hero  drinking  freely,  Jane  just  entering  the  door  with 
Sam's  duds,  when  our  hero  threw  down  two  dollars  on 
the  bar,  grabbed  Jane  by  the  waist  with  a  kiss,  took  up 
the  gallon  measure  and  gave  the  contents  a  circular  flirt 
over  the  whole  audience,  exclaiming,  "  Here,  you  brack 
darters  of  Adam,  take  de  balance  on  it  and  get  sober 


32  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

agin  I  come  back."  Not  a  drop  did  Sam  take,  but,  turn 
ing  to  me  with  a  lively  expression  of  pleasure,  said, 
"  Now,  Massa  Charley,  I'se  ready  to  go."  And,  amid  the 
roar  of  laughter  of  some,  and  the  wailing  of  others,  we 
turned  our  faces,  found  the  carman  at  his  post.  "  Off" 
was  the  orders.  Turned  into  South  st,  made  rather  a 
crooked  wake,  but  a  safe  landing  at  the  foot  of  Wall  st. 
Found  the  wind  still  N.  W.,  a  thousand  people  on  the 
dock,  paid  the  carman  two  dollars,  installed  Sam  in  the 
galley  inside  of  fifty  minutes. 

A  new  life  came  to  the  surroundings.  The  pilot  wiped 
the  ashes  from  his  cigar,  the  skipper  assumed  the  weather 
quarter-deck  and  said,  "  Mr.  Thomas,  let  go  clue  lines, 
buntlines  and  down  haul ;  sheet  home ;  up  both  topsails, 
topgallant  sails.  Here,  boy  !  throw  the  main  royal  out 
of  the  beckets ;  up  spanker ;  clear  away  jib  and  stay 
sail  down-hauls ;  run  them  both  up.  What  do  you  say 
up  there,  boy  ?"  and  the  answer  "  Hoist  away,  sir,"  came 
warbling  back  from  the  topgallant  crosstrees  through  a 
cracked  voice  just  on  the  change.  "  Clear  the  spanker 
sheets ;  let  the  boom  shake  till  we  get  the  true  wind." 
And  "  Are  you  ready,  Mr.  Thomas  ?"  "  Aye,  sir,"  was 
the  reply,  "All  ready,  sir."  And  as  I  slipped  down  the 
main-topgallant  back  stays  without  touching  a  rattling, 
the  skipper  turned  to  me  and  said,  "  Boy,  take  the 
wheel,"  and  in  the  same  breath,  the  mate  by  a  signal 
cried  "All  ashore  that's  going  !  In  gang  plank !  Stand 
by  your  lines !"  when  the  skipper,  in  his  sweet  musical 
voice,  cried  "  Let  go  !"  Cheer  upon  cheer  went  up  from 
the  shore  and  neighboring  shipping,  off  went  our  car- 
ronade,  whose  muzzle  stuck  over  the  taffrail,  and  the 
skipper  in  his  quiet,  gentlemanly  way,  tipped  his  hat  to 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  33 

the  audience  on  shore,  and  turning  to  the  pilot  gave  him 
the  command. 

With  the  full  strength  of  the  ebb  tide  and  cracking 
breeze  the  little  craft,  with  head  pointed  down  stream, 
"  walked  the  waters  like  a  thing  of  life,"  and  seemed  to 
say — Clear  the  track.  I  have  no  time  to  lose;  the 
precious  work  in  hand  is  to  carry  glad  tidings  to 
the  people  of  Palestine,  and  like  Nehemiah  of  old  in 
building  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  have  no  time  to 
talk.  Away,  then,  ye  Sanbalets,  Tobiahs,  and  Ger- 
shoms,  for  u  why  should  the  work  cease  whilst  I  leave 
it  and  come  down  to  you  ?"  Place  no  obstructions 
in  my  way.  God  furnishes  the  wind  that  wafts  us  on 
our  voyage,  and  not  one  feeble  "  cat's  paw  "  must  be  lost. 

"  Starboard  !"  cried  the  pilot.  "  So — steady  that — 
steady,  sir,"  was  the  reply,  and  if  the  boy  did  not  show 
pride  he  certainly  felt  it  in  his  boots,  doing  an  able  sea 
man's  duty  on  his  third  voyage,  at  fifteen  years  of  age. 
The  skipper  sat  on  the  weather  cable  box,  smoking  a 
splendid  Havana  of  his  own  manufacture,  a  silent  obser 
ver,  with  an  eye  aloft  occasionally,  measuring  in  his  own 
mind  the  full  strength  of  spars,  back-stays  and  canvas. 
The  pilot  stood  in  the  wake  of  the  main  rigging,  his  eye 
reaching  under  the  leach  of  the  foresail,  and  over  the 
weather  cat-head,  and  turning  to  the  skipper  said,  "  Cap 
tain,  she  goes  like  a  scalded  hog,  and  plump  ten  knot  an 
hour.  Is  your  standing  rigging  good  ?"  and  before  the 
reply  came,  the  little  brig,  pressed  by  a  real  good  puff 
of  wind,  stuck  her  nose  into  a  combing  "  tide  rip,"  and 
took  the  water  in  through  both  hawse  holes.  I  never 
knew  what  reply  the  skipper  made,  but  he  turned  to  me 
with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  and  said,  "  Boy,  do  you  want 


34  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

any  help  at  the  wheel?"  "  None,  sir;  for  she  steers  like 
a  duck,"  was  the  reply,  and  the  old  man  knew  it ;  for  the 
voyage  previous  he  and  myself,  "  trick-a-trick"  scud  her 
twenty-two  hours  through  a  real  teaiing  gale  of  wind, 
and  not  another  hand  touched  the  wheel.  That  was  on 
a  voyage  home  from  Malaga,  Isaac  English,  mate,  and 
sick  below.  But  let  us  turn  to  the  scenes  around  us,  for 
they  began  to  be  interesting.  The  flood  tide  had  met  us 
in  the  Narrows,  and  with  it  the  old  roll  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  wind  still  freshened  and  wore  westerly.  All  the  light 
kites  were  in  the  beckets  and  gaskets.  The  four  mission 
aries  had  passed  below  under  the  usual  premonitions  of 
sea-sickness.  The  crew,  partly  "  mops  and  brooms," 
were  growling  with  the  mate  about  the  usual  rations  of 
grog,  he  thinking  they  would  expect,  as  was  the  custom 
then,  to  have  grog  passed  when  taking  "  distance  and 
departure,"  and  if  the  wind  held  that  event  would  soon 
take  place.  Good,  kind-hearted  man,  he  was  fearful  that, 
come  to  add  the  fourth  ration  and  the  "  sweethearts  and 
wives  "  in  the  course  of  another  hour  to  what  they  had 
when  they  left  the  dock,  they  might  not  be  able  to  carry 
the  whole  load  without  a  fight. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  a  young  man,  a  Christian  gentleman 
and  a  genuine  sailor,  a  man  of  resolution  and  gentleness, 
withal,  but  if  the  case  required  action  and  could  not  be 
adjusted  without  it,  he  could  walk  into  treble  his  weight, 
and  the  parties  in  interest  would  find  themselves  whipped 
before  they  knew  it, — much  like  our  old  friend  R.  S.  P. 
Well,  the  question  was  satisfactorily  adjusted  in  less  than 
two  minutes,  and  without  its  being  known  abaft  the 
mainmast,  by  his  picking  up  the  two  ringleaders,  dumped 
them  down  the  forecastle  hatch  and  kept  them  there  till 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  35 

sober  next  morning.  The  usual  rations  were  reserved 
till  outside  the  Hook.  Good  for  the  mate.  Now  for  Sam 
Chace,  the  cook,  who  during  all  this  time  had  been 
drumming  up  his  galley  traps,  scoured  tins  and  coppers, 
mustered  up  towels,  and  everything  was  in  apple-pie 
order,  with  a  stream  of  smoke  issuing  from  his  galley 
equal  to  a  Londonderry  steamship,  and  had  brought  him 
self  to  an  anchor  in  the  weather  door  of  his  caboose,  with 
his  good  sweet  face  peering  out,  having  cast  off  his  shore 
togs  and  mounted  what  he  called  his  wedding  rig, — a 
beautiful  middy's  cap  on  his  head,  trimmed  with  gold 
lace,  marked  over  the  front  "  Sobriety,"  worked  on  rich 
black  velvet.  His  shirt  collar  of  whice  linen  before  de 
scribed,  had  given  place  to  a  clean  blue  man-of-war  shirt, 
worked  anchors  on  each  lap  of  the  collar,  open  in  the 
throat,  heavy  No.  2  white  duck  pants,  held  up  by  the 
hips,  a  beautiful  white  linen  handkerchief  stuck  in  the 
pocket  behind,  a  small  silver  comb  back  of  his  head, 
holding  a  long,  curled  Chinese  cue,  and  a  splendid  pair 
of  serge  slippers,  12  size,  sleeves  rolled  up,  showing  tattoo 
in  Indian  red  ink,  and  a  large  dolphin  on  his  breast. 
There  he  sat  like  a  Prince  of  Timbuctoo,  humming  to 
himself  in  a  low  key  '"Away  down  in  Dixey."  Every 
thing  inside  his  galley  "  shone  like  a  negro's  eye  agin  the 
moon."  Ah,  thinks  T,  here's  music  for  the  voyage.  An 
extra  lunch  had  been  laid  on  the  capstan  head  for  the 
captain  and  pilot,  a  signal  had  been  set  for  an  off  pilot 
boat  and  she  was  laying  by  for  us  about  live  miles  off, 
and  for  which  we  were  heading.  The  lunch  was  finished, 
the  pilot  assumed  his  former  position,  the  wind  had  wore 
more  westerly,  the  skipper  had  lighted  a  fresh  cigar, 
when  Sam  in  all  his  glory,  with  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a 


36  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

"  slapper,"  on  a  tray  stepped  out  of  his  galley,  walked 
straight  up  to  the  skipper,  tipped  his  lace  cap  and  point 
ing  to  me,  still  at  the  wheel,  said,  "  Sar,  wid  your  leave, 
a  cup  of  coffee  for  dat  chicken,  sar  ?"  and,  as  he  received 
a  nod  of  assent,  laid  the  traps  over  the  binnacle,  came 
round  under  my  lee  and  said,  "  Honey,  you  go  dare  and 
'  mungee,'  it  be  hulsome  for  uze  belly  ;  it  warm  you  better 
dan  rum."  And  he  put  his  feeler  on  the  wheel  as  supple 
as  any  old  salt,  whispering  in  my  ear,  "  Hurry,  child  !  dis 
pilot  is  going  to  lebe  us."  And  I  gave  him  the  helm  and 
his  course  with  as  much  confidence  of  his  seamanship  as 
of  his  kind  heart.  The  pilot  boat,  with  jib  to  windward, 
had  launched  his  little  dingey,  then  about  half  a  mile 
distant,  and  as  I  returned  to  my  post  Sam  whispered 
again,  smoothing  down  his  belly,  "  Dere,  honey,  dat  is 
good  !  For  when  dis  ere  child  is  hungry,  go  way  child  1 
<ro  way  !  but  when  my  belly's  full,  a  little  child  can  play 
wid  me,"  and  the  old  negro  left  me  completely  in  his 
favor,  an  affection  planted  on  the  dock  at  Wall  St.,  and 
nursed  by  almost  continuous  contact  for  a  dozen  years  or 
more,  till  his  death.  The  pilot's  duty  had  closed,  and 
our  skipper  resumed  his  charge,  and  standing  on  the 
weather  quarter  his  familiar  voice  came  to  the  ear  of  all, 
"  Stand  by  for  the  pilot's  small  boat !  Port  your  helm  ! 
Let  her  come  easy,  boy  !  Stand  by  lee  main  braces  j 
Steady  your  helm !  Main  topsail  haul !  Round  with 
your  yards  !  So,  belay  that !"  And  in  an  instant  the 
pilot  dropped  into  his  little  dingey,  waving  adieu  and 
pleasant  voyage.  The  little  brig  had  not  lost  her  way. 
Bang  went  the  carronade  as  the  skipper  said,  "  Hard  up 
your  helm  !  Shiver  the  yards  !  Meet  her  with  your 
helm!  Fill  away  main  yards!  Steady,  boy,  steady  I 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  37 

How  do  you  head  now?"  "  S.  W.,  sir,"  came  there- 
spouse.  "  Starboard  a  little,  now  what?"  "  S.  by  E., 
sir."  "  Put  her  E.  S.  E.  and  keep  that  course  till  further 
orders.  Trim  her  at  that,  Mr.  Thomas,"  and  then  "  Come 
aft  and  we  will  take  bearings  and  distance,  and  make 
up  the  watches  for  the  voyage."  It  was  now  six  p.  M. 
The  breeze  held  good,  rate  by  log,  nine  knots.  Watches 
were  arranged,  and  my  lot  fell  to  the  skipper.  Long- 
spliced  Jim  Cook,  of  the  mate's  watch,  relieved  the 
helm,  and  the  boy  was  soon  in  close  confab  with  his  new 
crony  the  cook,  and  as  you  have  had  considerable  display 
of  nautical  phrases  thus  far.  it  will  answer  for  the  voyage, 
the  remainder  of  the  Journal  will  be  devoted  to  incidents, 
historical,  piscatorial,  and  amusing, — founded  011  fact, 
not  fiction. 

The  starboard  watch  had  the  charge,  and  your  humble 
servant  with  the  skipper  were  pacing  the  main  deck. 
The  night  was  beautiful,  the  wind  just  abaft  the  beam, 
every  stitch  of  canvas  doing  its  duty,  and  the  log  at 
twelve  denoted  eight  knots.  The  skipper  said,  "  In  1802 
I  was  in  the  ship  Sally  with  my  father,  Capt.  Nathaniel 
Storer,  laying  in  Hell  Gate  harbor  on  the  coast  of  Pata 
gonia,  gathering  a  cargo  of  seal.  The  weather  was  cold, 
the  interior  mountains  full  of  snow,  and  at  that  season 
the  seal  would  land  at  the  shore  and  beach  in  great 
quantities,  comprising  the  female  with  the  young  '  pom- 
pys'  at  her  side,  and  the  male,  called  'old  wig.'  The 
skin  of  the  former  was  the  object  of  our  voyage,  while 
the  pompey  was  useless.  The  old  wigs  are  not  plenty, 
nor  are  their  skins  desirable,  the  covering  being  coarse 
hair  and  a  mantle  around  his  neck  of  long  gray.  They 
are  all  entirely  harmless  and  show  no  disposition  to  de- 


38  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

fend  themselves,  but  will  make  for  the  water  on  the 
approach  of  their  captors  ;  consequently  their  retreat  is. 
cut  off  and  they  are  easily  killed  by  clubs.  They  may 
be  in  rookeries  of  50  or  500,  and  seldom  but  one  old  wig 
seen  in  a  rook.  When  a  sufficient  number  are  killed  for 
the  day  they  are  skinned,  taking  care  of  cutting  the  hide, 
stretched  on  pegs,  salted  on  board  the  ship,  and,  in  this 
case,  45,000  taken  to  Canton  and  sold  for  87^  cents  each. 
The  skinning  process  proceeds  wThile  the  young  pompys 
are  at  the  side  of  the  mother  crying  piteously,  and  were 
taken  up  by  the  lad.  Our  skipper  petted  and  soothed 
them  like  a  young  child.  The  sea  lion  is  the  male  of  the 
old  wig,  of  no  use  but  for  oil.  They  weigh  300  or  400 
pounds,  and  our  hero,  having  no  duties  to  perform,  spent 
his  time  on  shore  riding  on  the  backs  of  these  creatures 
and  playing  with  the  pompys  or  puppies." 

The  little  craft  had  held  the  westerly  wind,  a  light 
leading  breeze,  the  weather  had  been  splendid  thus  far, 
our  passengers  had  put  on  their  sea  legs  and  were  chat 
ting  on  the  quarter  deck,  the  crew  had  become  sober,  we 
in  a  lovely  climate  and  a  smooth  sea.  By  observation 
we  found  ourselves  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Michael,  one  of 
the  A/ores  or  Western  Islands,  the  wind  nearly  a  calm, 
surrounded  with  drift  weed,  and  occasionally  a  green 
turtle  in  sight,  about  100  miles  from  land,  and  here,  no 
doubt,  we  were  to  remain  a  week  or  more,  whistling  for 
a  breeze.  "  Horse  latitude,  by  Jingo  !"  exclaimed  the 
skipper,  as  he  threw  his  old  cap  on  the  deck  and  called 
Sam,  the  cook,  aft  and  said,  "How  do  you  stand  for  fresh, 
Sam?"  "Well,  sar,  dere  be  no  beef  left  sin' Sunday; 
wrese  got  5  pair  chicks,  15  ducks,  2  grunters  and  plenty 
of  de  sarce,  sar !"  The  skipper  cast  his  eye  in  the  wake 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  39 

of  the  fore-rigging,  put  his  spy-glass  to  his  eye,  turned 
to  Sam  and  said,  "  Give  us  a  real  good,  rich  fish  chowder 
for  dinner;  put  in  plenty  of  pork  and  port  wine,  and  be 
ready  with  your  dinner  when  we  get  the  sun  at  meridian." 
Sam  rolled  up  his  eyes  in  amazement,  and  exclaimed, 
"I'se  no  'lijah,  Massa  !  I'se  got  no  fish,  dis  child  can't  make 
fish  ?  can't  make  chowder  widout  fish,  Massa  !"  "  Never 
you  mind,  Sam,  get  your  potatoes  and  pork  sliced,  and 
in  half  an  hour  you  shall  have  fish;  you  want  faith, 
Sam."  The  cook  went  forward  in  wonder,  soliloquizing 
as  he  went.  The  skipper  knew  where  the  fish  were,  and 
sang  out,  "Stand  by  there  on  the  forecastle  with  a  line, 
and  get  a  running  bowline  round  that  spar,  just  under 
the  lee  bow."  And  sure  enough,  there  were  the  fish. 
The  water  was  black  with  sea  bass  which  had  been  feed 
ing  on  barnacles  attached  to  the  spar,  apparently  a  large 
ship's  mast,  broken  below  the  hounds  and  about  twenty 
feet  long.  The  barnacles  were  of  the  clam  species,  about 
two  inches  long,  and  completely  encased  the  spar.  The 
prize  was  dropped  astern.  The  fish,  though  a  little  dis 
turbed  at  first,  soon  became  reconciled  to  the  situation, 
and  returned  to  the  spar.  It  was  a  sight  for  a  lifetime, 
the  "water  being  black  with  real  genuine  sea  bass,  weigh 
ing  from  5  to  25  pounds,  and  a  thousand  in  number.  If 
Sir  Izaak  Walton,  or  Sam  Drake,  of  Rochester,  could 
have  witnessed  that  scene  there  would  have  been  some 
tall  expressions,  though  the  former,  it  is  said,  never 
swore  an  oath  in  his  life.  Sea  bass  of  2  to  8  pounds, 
caught  inside  of  Mont  auk  Point  are  counted,  for  broiling 
and  chowder,  the  best  salt  water  fish.  The  male  is  dis 
tinguished  by  bright,  variable  browrn  and  blue  shades. 
But  let  us  return  to  the  scene  on  deck.  The  skipper 


40  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

was  throwing  the  grains  and  the  mate  the  harpoon,  and 
the  fish  were  coming  right  and  left,  while  your  humble  ' 
servant,  never  without  good  gear,  used  the  hook  and  line, 
and  the  water  being  clear  and  fish  near  the  surface,  he 
could  take  his  pick  of  size.  The  officers  mutilated  their 
fish,  while  the  hook  and  line  brought  them  on  deck  in  all 
their  beauty  and  glory,  and  besides,  the  youngster  came 
oflf  high  hook.  We  had  about  thirty  fish  on  deck,  when 
the  skipper  ordered  the  prize  to  be  cast  off,  adding,  "we 
have  all  the  fish  we  can  care  for.  It  is  wicked  to  have 
them  spoil."  Sam  was,  of  course,  on  hand  for  a  fish,  and 
had  cut  the  throat  of  the  skipper's  first,  weighing  about 
eiojht  pounds,  and  as  your  humble  servant  hauled  in  a 
24-pounder  Sam  fastened  to  him  as  he  struck  the  deck, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Massa  Charley,  I'se  got  faith  now,  our 
skipper  is  a  prophetum.  I  juss  takes  dis  big  fellow,  cos 
he's  a  cracker  forde  chowder,  and  de  tutherun  for  broil." 
And  when  the  officers  had  taken  the  sun  at  meridian, 
Sam  walked  into  the  cabin  with  an  immense  kettle  of 
chowder,  that  by  its  savory  smell  would  tempt  Queen 
Victoria  or  make  Izaak  Walton  laugh  both  sides  of  his 
mouth,  and  having  served  the  cabin  he  filled  the  fore 
castle  kids,  and  we  had  a  meal  delicious  and  long  to  be 
remembered.  The  whole  affair  was  a  splendid  ovation, 
commenced  without  faith  and  closed  on  time,  agreeable 
to  orders.  And  here  is  Sam's  recipe  for  the  chowder: 

Put  the  iron  kettle  on  a  slow  fire,  of  a  capacity  sufficient  for  your 

family. 

Put  in  a  layer  of  clear  sliced  salt  pork. 

Put  in  a  layer  of  clear  cuts  of  fish, 

free  from  bone  as  possible. 
Put  in  a  layer  of  clear  sliced  potatoes. 
Water  to  cover,  only. 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  41 

Repeat  the  three  layers  twice,  after  which  one  pound  butter,  pepper 
and  salt  to  suit.  Pour  in  one  pint  brandy,  one  pint  catsup,  one  pint 
port  wine,  the  juice  of  six  lemons  (fresh).  Then,  for  the  purpose  of 
knowing  when  done,  put  three  good  sized  potatoes  on  top.  No  pilot 
bread  or  crackers  in  the  kettle,  but  they  should  be  toasted,  stewed  in 
butter  and  served  separate.  No  meal  or  flour,  don't  burn,  nor  forget 
the  lemons. 

Serve  the  chowder  from  the  kettle,  unless  you  have  extra  large 
platters.     Fish  cuts  should  be  tied  in  muslin. 


But  the  calm  still  prevailed,  and  all  the  whistling  we 
could  muster  would  not  bring  a  breeze.  The  following- 
day  was  Sunday,  and  at  10  A.M.  all  hands  were  called 
aft  for  religious  services.  Sermon  from  Rev.  Mr.  Goodell. 
Weather  hot,  made  hardly  tolerable  by  an  awning  over 
quarter  deck.  Several  green  turtle  in  sight  on  the  sur 
face.  Saw  a  large  shoal  of  right  whale  going  west, 
apparently  in  a  fight  with  several  large  threshers.  Por 
poises  in  shoals  were  turning  feats  amusing  and  certainly 
interesting,  and  it  seemed  as  though  the  water  was  lull 
of  fish.  A  large  shark  made  his  appearance  on  our 
quarter,  about  fifty  rods  off,  and  as  the  four  o'clock  watch 
was  relieved  the  author  set  to  work  for  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  him.  I  rigged  out  a  good  hook  and 
line,  baited  with  sea  bass.  The  vessel  had  barely  steer 
age  way  on  her,  and  before  night  had  coaxed  the  rascal 
within  perhaps  six  rods,  but  he  declined  the  hook.  I 
noticed  that  in  throwing  any  floating  substance  toward 
him  that  a  small  fish  would  dart  out  from  his  left  side, 
examine  the  article  and  return  to  the  shark,  which  would 
sometimes  make  a  movement  toward  it,  but  in  no  case 
until  the  small  fish  had  reconnoitered  the  ground.  I 
worked  at  him  till  near  dusk,  but  of  no  avail,  and  left 


42  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

him,  concluding  that  he  was  not  to  be  cheated.  One  en 
tire  sea  bass  had  been  guzzled  by  the  creature,  without 
value  received  on  my  part,  and  I  left  him.  In  conversa 
tion  with  the  skipper  he  said  the  shark  often  had  a  pilot 
fish  with  him,  which  he  had  seen.  This  was  news  to  me, 
but  as  the  monster  had  been  pretty  well  fed,  I  concluded 
I  would  get  a  crack  at  him  in  the  morning.  Sure  enough, 
he  was  on  the  spot,  and  so  was  I,  with  tactics  changed. 
I  rigged  small  gear  with  my  views  narrowed  down  on 
small  game,  and  pitched  in  for  the  pilot.  The  first  throw 
was  successful,  and  as  I  hauled  the  little  fellow  struggling 
through  the  water,  the  monster  made  a  movement  to 
wards  him,  but  he  was  too  clumsy.  He  evidently  wanted 
to  stay  proceedings,  but  the  pilot  was  on  deck,  a  beauti 
ful  silver-sided  bright-eyed,  zebra-circular,  brown-striped 
fish,  weighing  two  pounds,  an  entirely  different  class  of 
fish  from  the  shark,  his  shape  much  like  the  perch,  but 
without  teeth,  the  intimate  companion  and  pilot  of  a 
great  350-pound  shark.  What  a  contrast  ?  Daniel  Lam 
bert  among  the  Liliputians !  A  mountain  and  a  mole 
hill !  But  to  the  shark, — which  for  the  first  time  began 
a  new  movement,  describing  a  circle  around  the  vessel, 
which  he  followed  up  through  the  greater  part  of  the 
day.  We  kept  the  harpoon  in  the  nettings  ready  for 
use.  I  was  sent  to  repair  a  ratline  on  the  fore-topgallant 
shrouds,  and  took  a  new  coil  of  ratline  stuff,  and  with 
the  end  in  my  hand  made  it  fast  to  the  back  stay,  and 
one  eye  on  the  shark.  I  noticed  he  was  crossing  the 
ship's  stern  and  heading  so  as  to  rise  at  her  counter.  I 
slid  down  by  the  back  stays,  capsized  the  coil  of  rigging, 
made  a  running  bowlin'  with  the  other  end,  jumped  into 
the  main  channels,  and  as  I  slipped  the  bowlin'  over  his 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  43 

head,  gave  it  a  jam  with  my  right  hand,  just  as  the  vessel 
rolled  me  on  him.  My  left  hand  dropped  over  his  nose 
and  the  two  forefingers  and  thumb  into  the  edge  of  his 
mouth.  The  monster,  worse  frightened  than  was  your 
humble  servant,  started  off  abeam  as  though  the  evil 
one  was  on  his  back.  Here  was  a  pretty  kettle  of  fish> 
while  I  jumped  on  deck,  caught  the  line  with  one  hand,, 
the  other  dreadfully  lacerated,  lost  my  hold  and  over 
board  went  the  whole  coil. 

The  skipper  took  in  the  surroundings  and  sang  out, 
a  Up,  there,  in  the  forerigging  !  Cut  away  !  Hurry  up,, 
or  we  lose  our  top  hamper  !"  But  before  the  men  were 
in  the  rigging  the  shark  fetched  up  "  all  standing."  The 
warp  stood  the  shock  and  so  did  the  shrouds  and  back 
stay,  for  the  bowlin'  had  done  its  duty  and  the  monster 
was  choked  to  death.  We  finally  got  the  bight  of  the 
warp  on  deck,  hauled  the  game  alongside,  put  the  tackle 
on,  hoisted  him  on  deck,  and  in  the  last  throe  of  death, 
his  expiring  effort,  he  knocked  with  his  tail  the  cook's 
soak  barrel  all  in  flitters.  We  cut  off  his  head,  took  out 
a  part  of  his  liver  and  consigned  the  carcase  to  his  native 
element.  After  cleaning  his  jaws  he  displayed  four  rows 
of  splendid  teeth,  and  any  man  on  board  could  slip  it 
over  his  head  resting  on  his  shoulders.  Now  for  the 
boy,  or,  as  Sam  would  say,  "dis  child."  He  was  dancing 
about  deck  in  much  pain,  two  fingers  and  thumb  raked 
between  those  rows  of  teeth,  without  much  flesh  on,  too 
proud  to  cry  and  too  mad  to  talk,  consoling  himself  in 
all  his  pain  with  the  idea  that  he  had  cheated  the  shark 
and  his  pilot  to  death.  The  marks  are  now  visible  on 
left  hand,  and  will  be  useful  as  I  continue  to  "  spin  yarns  " 
and  tell  the  young  folks  "  shark  stories  "  And  if  at  this 


44  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

late  day  I  exult  over  this  wonderful  feat,  it  is  my  privi 
lege.  Who  but  this  boy  would  have  passed  by  a  good 
harpoon  and  take  a  running  bowlin'  to  put  over  a  shark's 
nose  ?  Please  "  show  me  the  man."  Piscatorially  I  can 
amuse  my  readers  by  enumerating  some  lively  scenes, 
and  if  I  have  room  at  the  close  of  this  book,  and  they 
will  promise  to  accept  it  in  my  language,  without  fiction 
or  flourishes,  they  shall  have  it.  I  have  hod  the  expe 
rience.  Yes,  I  have. 

But  the  calm  continued,  notwithstanding  everyone 
was  whistling  for  a  breeze,  but  to  no  purpose.  It  was 
hot  and  calm  and  we  could  not  dodge  it.  Several  large 
green  turtle  were  seen  soundly  asleep,  but  the  shark 
frolic  of  the  day  before  reminded  the  skipper  that  we 
had  been  sufficiently  excited  for  tho»  two  days  and  he 
was  not  disposed  to  lower  the  small  boat ;  so  he  modestly 
said,  "  This  calm  will  last  till  we  get  out  of  it  by  the  drift ; 
we  will  attend  to  the  turtle  some  other  time,  and  besides, 
the  sun  at  meridian  is  the  best  time  to  cheat  them." 
Sam  sat  in  the  galley  door,  his  day's  duty  closed,  and 
his  "belly  full,"  a  pattern  of  peace  and  jollity,  in  that 
frame  of  mind  that  no  doubt  "  a  little  child  could  play 
wid  him  in  safety."  The  subject  with  the  old  darkey 
was  something  to  eat,  and  how  to  obtain  it.  "  You  see 
dere,  boys,  dere's  alluz  dem  turtlum  in  dis  lattentude, 
and  de  hot  sun  at  noon  he  comes  to  de  top  like  a  Congo 
nigger  to  sun,  and  da  gets  drunk  wid  de  heat  and  falls 
asleep ;  den  we's  jus'  scull  de  boat  berry  quiet  and  gin- 
gingly  alongside,  put  yuze  arms  round  de  fool,  heel  down 
de  boat  and  slide  he  in,  jus'  like  de  nigger  on  de  Five 
Points,  when  police  put  he  in  de  lockum  up,  and  he  wake 
up,  jus'  in  time  to  know  he's  been  fooled.  But  you  jus' 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  45 

take  care  clem  flippers,  da's  be  jus'  like  a  steamboat. 
And  den  dere's  dem  stakes,  and  de  stews,  and  bake  and 
supes,  better  dan  turkum  and  oshter  sarce.  Oh,  dese 
Western  Islands,  some  call  um  'Zores,  better  dan  any 
udder  place  dis  side  of  Capum  Horn  for  fish  and  turtlum. 
Den  you  jus'  hang  he  by  de  hind  legs,  cut  he  troat,  bleed 
he  good,  cut  out  de  meat,  trow  um  shell  overboard,  coz 
dem  hawks-bill  turtlum  be  good  for  combs;  but  dese 
green  turtlum  shell  be's  good  for  Dotting."  And  the  old 
negro  took  down  a  large  carver,  run  the  edge  over  a  hone 
and  exclaimed,  "  I'se  show  you  all  about  it  to-morrow, 
Buddy,  coz  de  skipper  here  nose  all  'bout  dese  turtlum, 
jus' same  as  him  did 'bout  dem  sea  bass,  tudder  day," 
and  Sam  went  below  for  his  night's  sleep. 

The  night  was  quiet,  not  a  brace  or  sheet  had  been 
started,  the  vessel  with  scarcely  steerage  way  on  her,  and 
only  occasionally  a  "  cat's  paw  "  from  the  westward,  an 
indication  that  our  calm  would  soon  be  over;  decks 
washed  down,  all  hands  had  breakfast,  the  jolly  boat 
taken  from  herbeckets,  and  now  towing  astern,  all  hands 
busy  at  the  "  spun  yarn  "  mill  and  an  uproarious  smoke 
issuing  from  Sam's  galley,  giving  note  of  his  being  alive, 
and  each  one  with  an  eye  out  for  turtle;  for  it  was  well 
understood  that  we  were  to  try  our  hand  at  them.  The 
atmosphere  was  dreadful  hot,  every  breath  of  wind  had 
died  out,  and  the  craft  lost  steerage  way  entirely.  The 
skipper  and  mate  with  quadrants  were  in  the  waist, 
ready  to  catch  the  sun's  meridian,  and  just  as  she  was 
stationary,  ready  to  tip,  Mrs.  Goodell,  one  of  our  lady 
missionaries,  called  the  skipper's  attention  to  an  object 
forty  rods  off;  but  his  eye  was  on  the  sun,  and  if  all  the 
women  in  Christendom  had  asked  him  a  question,  it 


46  A.   VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

• 

would  have  had  no  response.  A  few  seconds  passed, 
when  the  old  man  dropped  his  quadrant,  turned  to  the 
mate  and  said,  "  She  has  tipped."  The  response  was  in 
the  affirmative,  and  immediately  turning  to  Mrs.  G.  he 
said,  "  That,  Madam,  is  a  green  turtle."  And  in  the  next 
breath  said  to  the  mate,  "  Stow  away  your  mill,  Mr. 
Thomas.  Boy,  haul  the  boat  alongside.  Here,  Jim  Cook, 
take  Joe,  man  the  boat,  muffle  your  oars,  board  the  turtle 
with  the  scull  oar  when  within  ten  rods,  and  away !" 
Now  turtle,  it  is  agreed,  is  not  fish,  and  your  humble 
servant  was  not  particularly  interested  in  this  scene. 
Still,  as  the  modus  operandi  was  new,  he  cast  an  eye  to 
the  boat  just  as  long-spliced  Jim  was  going  head  first 
overboard.  The  turtle  was  in  the  boat,  but  the  effort  put 
forth  was  so  great  to  slide  the  turtle  in,  that  he  lost  his 
balance  and  exchanged  places  with  the  green  back ;  but, 
like  a  duck,  he  was  out  in  an  instant,  and  I  remembered 
Sam's  comparison  of  the  flippers  to  a  steamboat.  Jim 
was  a  great  water  bird  and  a  mighty  pugilist,  as  you 
will  find,  by  a  scene  that  occurred  at  Gibraltar,  and  in 
which  the  boy  as  usual  figured.  However,  they  resumed 
their  oars,  came  alongside,  put  the  watch  tackle  on  the 
turtle  and  landed  him  on  deck,  face  up.  The  observed 
of  all  observers  weighed  125  pounds,  when  Norwegian 
Joe,  turning  to  the  mate  said  in  his  broken  English,  "He 
got  two  two  a  hind  leg,  two  two  a  fore  leg,  and  a  tail 
a-most,  and  a  head  somewhat  like  a  pincer ;  now  what 
kipd  a  dom  fish  you  call  him,  Mr.  Mate  ?"  A  hearty 
laugh  and  the  turtle  was  passed  over  to  Sam  for  dissec 
tion,  while  the  boat  was  off  for  more  with  good  success. 
We  scuttled  two  water  casks,  put  a  medium  sized  turtle 
in  each  with  a  view  to  keep,  put  a  half  dozen  on  their 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  47 

backs  for  future  use,  let  another  half-dozen  go,  filled  up 
the  casks  with  salt  water ;  had  turtle  in  all  forms  for 
ten  days. 

The  calm  still  prevailed  another  day,  amid  a  wonderful 
show  of  turtle,  whale,  porpoise,  dolphin  and  shark,  but 
the  good  skipper,  true  to  his  governing  principle,  refused 
to  lower  a  boat  or  make  an  effort  to  obtain  any  more 
plunder.  "We  have  enough,"  was  his  reply,  and  that 
was  law  and  gospel.  He  was  an  example  worthy  of  imi 
tation  by  every  gentleman  piscatorially  or  turtleisingly 
inclined,  but  he  would  not  object  to  all  hands  whistling 
up  a  breeze.  Before  sundown  we  discovered  quite  a  little 
roll  of  the  sea  heaving  in  from  the  west  and  at  midnight 
took  a  good  spanking  breeze  and  shaped  our  course  for 
Cape  St.  Vincent,  bidding  adieu  to  horse  latitudes,  tur 
tles,  sharks  and  calms, — a  glorious  relief,  a  happy  ex 
change.  Our  passengers  seemed  to  enjoy  the  trip,  having 
every  comfort  and  attention  possible ;  never  in  the  way, 
and  full  liberty  in  all  parts  of  the  craft,  and  were  par 
ticularly  happy  with  an  hour  spent  with  Sam,  who,  to 
cheer  them  up,  always  had  a  cup  of  coffee  or  tea,  and  at 
a  moment's  notice.  They  were  favorites  with  all  the 
crew,  and  made  Sam  sing  "Away  down  in  Dixey"  once 
a  day  regular. 

We  made  the  cape,  having  had  a  beautiful  run,  and  with 
a  strong  current  always  setting  up  the  straits  of  Gibraltar, 
the  wind  then  east.  We  worked  up  to  the  bay  in  good 
style  came  to  an  anchor  in  ten  fathoms  of  water,  making 
the  run  from  New  York  in  twenty-five  days,  eight  of 
which  were  passed  off  the  Azores.  Our  object  here  was 
for  mails  only.  Gibraltar  is  in  lat.  36°  5'  N".  and  long. 

The  city  lays  fronting  the 


48  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

Bay  of  Algeziras  and  is  a  beautiful  sight,  with  a  gradual 
elevation  from  the  bay  to  near  its  summit,  is  heavily 
fortified  on  the  top,  and  it  affords  a  prospect  of  the  sea 
on  each  side  of  the  rock.  The  rock  is  joined  to  the  con 
tinent  by  a  low  piece  of  land  about  half  a  mile  wide,  used 
as  a  parade  ground,  and  is  the  only  passage  to  the  city 
by  land.  The  rock  is  on  its  north  end,  joined  to  this 
peninsula,  and  is  so  near  perpendicular  that  from  its 
port  holes  excavated  in  the  bluff  a  person  can  reach  his 
head  out  and  the  coldiers  on  the  parade  look  like  the 
representatives  of  Liliputians.  The  writer  with  his  com 
rades  each  took  turns  in  prostrating  themselves  while 
the  others  held  us  by  the  heels.  We  dare  not  stand  up 
square  in  the  port  hole  and  look  down,  for  even  in  the 
mode  we  adopted  it  was  too  frightful  to  prolong  the 
sight.  There  are  four  tiers  of  port  holes,  opening  into 
large  rooms  used  for  various  purposes,  and  roads  leading 
to  them  from  the  city,  all  excavated  in  solid  rock.  The 
soil  is  thin  and  none  to  be  seen  except  on  the  west  face, 
where  the  city  lays.  History  states  that  the  soil  was 
carried  there  by  the  Moors.  The  "  King's  Armada,"  or 
now  the  Governor's  residence,  is  about  the  only  place 
for  vegetation.  This  had  a  beautiful  garden  of  shrubbery 
and  small  fruits,  with  hedges  of  geranium  in  great  variety. 
The  grounds  were  full  of  war  material  of  various  kinds. 
The  magazine  was  also  here,  and  a  vast  number  of  heavy 
guns,  and  with  this  wonderful  sight  the  whole  air  was 
impregnated  with  shrubs  and  flowers. 

To  stand  or  sit  in  this  beautiful  place,  commanding  a 
view  of  the  bay,  Algezirns,  the  strait,  Alps  Hill  on  the 
Barbary  side,  the  city  below  with  the  surroundings  of 
horticulture,  and  the  fortifications  above  you  at  the  sum- 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  49 

mit,  the  mind  becomes  bewildered  and  the  head  dizzy. 
I  can  only  say  that,  to  be  appreciated  it  must  be  seen. 
The  fortifications  on  the  summit  are  quite  extensive  and 
of  immense  power,  and  command  the  strait,  which  is 
eight  miles  across.  Gibraltar  had  for  years  laid  the  com 
mercial  world  under  tribute,  and  all  vessels  bound  up 
the  straits  were  then  compelled  to  carry  a  Mediterranean 
pass,  and  the  voyage  previous  the  same  vessel  and  skip 
per  were  fired  into,  demanding  a  show  of  colors,  because 
some  fool  of  a  lieutenant  in  command  of  the  fortress 
wanted  to  show  a  little  brief  authority.  It  is  a  short 
story.  We  were  bound  into  Malaga  and  beating  up  the 
straits ;  the  wind  died  out,  leaving  us  above  the  harbor 
of  Gibraltar,  and  a  little  north  of  the  usual  track  bound 
up,  and  off  the  south  end  of  the  rock  the  wind  failed  us 
and  we  barely  had  steerage  way  on  the  vessel,  but  from 
our  position  he  knew  that  we  were  bound  to  Malaga, 
w7hich  lays  on  the  main  just  above  the  rock.  It  was 
about  noon,  when  bang  went  a  gun,  and  a  shot  came 
astern  of  us,  at  which  insult  Capt.  Storer  was  consid 
erably  disturbed,  but  he  ordered  the  boy  to  get  the 
colors  up  and  waited  in  hopes  the  insult  would  not  be 
repeated.  But  he  wras  mistaken,  for  in  two  minutes 
bang  came  another  shot  just  ahead.  Our  skipper  knew 
the  rule,  and  lest  the  third  shot  should  be  for  us,  your 
humble  servant  was  ordered  to  run  up  the  stripes  and 
he  did  so.  But  it  was  a  stark  calm  and  they  hugged 
the  mast  on  a  perpendicular.  This  satisfied  the  villain 
in  charge  of  the  fortress,  and  no  more  shots  were  sent. 
We  went  into  Malaga,  obtained  our  cargo,  and  stopped 
at  Gibraltar  for  mail,  when  the  authorities  claimed  five 
dollars  for  each  shot ;  but  the  plucky  little  captain  re- 
4 


50  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

fused  to  pay  it,  telling  them  to  do  better  if  they  could. 
Our  readers  will  remember  that  long-spliced  Jim  Cook 
is  one  of  our  mess.  Well,  Jim  was  a  good  sailor,  though 
a  great  pugilist.  I  was  with  him  in  a  previous  voyage, 
and  we  lay  in  Gibraltar  Bay  waiting  orders.  "  Shore 
liberty  "  was  granted  four  of  us,  with  a  permit  from  the 
Governor  giving  us  a  wide  range  for  our  Sunday  stroll. 
We  landed  at  the  "  mole  "  or  dock,  the  only  landing  by 
water,  a  wharf  perhaps  ten  rods  wide  by  fifteen  long  (a 
squad  of  soldiers  is  its  guard),  leading  through  double 
gates  to  the  city,  which  is  heavily  walled.  This  com 
manded  the  only  entrance  to  the  city.  We  landed  with 
out  hindrance,  made  a  pretty  thorough  examination  of 
the  market  place,  the  Armada,  its  fortifications,  and, 
being  fully  warned  of  the  sun-down  gun,  came  down 
through  the  gates  just  as  the  gun  gave  the  signal  to  close 
them,  but  our  boat  was  not  there.  The  officer  in  charge 
very  kindly  informed  us  that  in  ten  minutes  the  mole 
must  be  cleared,  and  if  our  boat  was  not  on  the  spot  we 
must  take  a  bumboat,  which  would  cost  two  dollars. 
Sailor-like,  we  had  spent  the  last  rial  (shilling)  on  our 
way  down,  and  the  boatman  wanted  pay  in  advance. 
The  time  was  up,  we  heard  the  tramp  of  Johnny  Bull's 
adopted  sons,  while  the  sergeant  waved  his  cheese-knife 
for  us  to  retire.  We  had  but  little  choice,  it  was  either 
a  wet  jacket  or  a  fight,  and  not  a  moment  to  decide  be 
fore  it  was  "  Charge  !"  "  Halt !"  giving  us  still  an  oppor 
tunity  to  retire.  Now  Jim  was  in  good  fighting  trim, 
and  swore  he  would  not  move.  The  next  order  was 
"Forward !"  and  Jim  snatched  the  musket  of  the  left 
file  quick  as  lightning,  and  he  would  have  been  a  dead 
man  if  the  officer  had  been  disposed,  but  he  cried  "  Halt !" 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  51 

and  stepped  up  to  Jim,  laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder  and 
said,  with  a  good-natured  smile,  "You  are  made  of  too 
good  stuff  to  be  shot.  Give  the  man  his  musket  and  get 
into  your  boat.  I  like  your  spunk,  and  this  has  saved 
your  life ;  but  remember,  if  you  ever  step  on  this  mole 
and  disobey,  it  will  go  hard  with  you."  All  these  scenes 
passed  like  the  whirl  of  a  breath  to  us,  and  we  breathed 
free  as  we  inarched  to  our  boat,  which  had  that  moment 
arrived,  and  the  author  resolved  that  rum  was  not  a  fit 
companion  for  him  when  on  shore  in  a  foreign  country, 
and  ever  after  I  chose  my  associates  for  shore  liberty. 

And  now  for  a  straight  wake.  The  market  place  at 
Gibraltar  produces  a  good  display  of  vegetables,  fruit, 
poultry  and  fish.  It  is  mostly  kept  by  Jews,  Turks  and 
Moors,  and  is  brought  over  in  veluchers  or  boats  from 
the  Barbary  side  of  the  straits.  The  dress  of  the  market 
men  and  women  is  mostly  Turkish,  quite  costly  and  ex 
travagant.  They  can  all  get  off  a  spattering  of  English. 
Your  humble  servant  had  no  difficulty  at  fourteen  years 
old  to  market  from  them  without  a  pilot,  provided  the 
41  rial  "  (eight  shilling  to  the  dollar)  was  the  basis  of  the 
whole  finance.  Without  solicitation  my  basket  was 
always  brought  down  to  the  gates  by  a  slave,  and  if  any 
space  was  left  after  filling  my  list,  the  little  senorita 
would  fill  it  with  grapes  and  oranges.  Whether  it  was 
my  face  or  my  jaunty  chip  hat  with  a  long  silk  ribbon 
and  white  duck  trowsers  without  suspenders,  that  capti 
vated  her  and  her  old  Jew  father,  I  never  knew,  but  I 
know  that  "  petit  Americano  "  always  met  with  a  grand 
reception  in  that  market. 

Payne  says,  "  The  Fortress  of  Gibraltar  was  taken 
1704  in  two  days  by  a  combined  fleet  of  English 


52  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

and  Dutch  ships  under  command  of  Sir  George  Rooke. 
In  the  same  year,  the  Spaniards  attempted  its  recap 
ture,  at  which  time  it  stood  out  a  memorable  siege, 
when  500  of  the  enemy  having  scaled  the  walls  on 
the  bay,  crept  up  the  rocks  during  the  early  morning, 
were  charged  upon  and  driven  headlong  into  the  sea, 
after  which  it  was  ceded  to  the  English  by  treaty  in  1713. 
Spain  again  made  an  attempt  in  1727  with  a  powerful 
army,  but  raised  the  siege  after  laying  before  it  several 
months.  But  the  blockade  and  siege  it  sustained  from 
the  same  party  for  nearly  four  years,  from  1779  to  1783, 
will  ever  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
events  in  history.  The  combined  army  of  France  and 
Spain,  under  the  Duke  de  Crillon  with  30,000  men  at 
tempted  to  reduce  the  place  by  famine  and  were  thrice 
baffled  by  relief  from  England.  The  last  of  these  suc 
cors  were  thrown  in  under  the  command  of  Lord  Howe. 
By  a  sally  made  by  him  all  the  outer  batteries  of  the 
Spaniard  were  entirely  destroyed  but  with  little  loss  to 
him.  The  Spanish  monarch  adopted  a  plan  to  construct 
ten  large  floating  batteries  composed  of  large  timbers  of 
cedar  and  mahogany,  on  such  a  principle  as  was  supposed 
could  not  be  penetrated  by  balls.  Every  arrangement 
in  the  power  of  Spain  was  made  for  the  capability  of 
pouring  destruction  on  the  place  in  a  tremendous  man 
ner.  On  the  13th  of  September,  1782,  the  attack  was 
made.  The  brave  and  able  Governor  brought  forth  every 
exertion  to  repel  it,  and  for  this  purpose  prepared  an 
immense  number  of  red  hot  balls,  which  were  made 
effectual.  The  whole  Armada  took  fire,  became  unman 
ageable,  and  almost  all  the  devoted  wretches  who  had 
embarked  in  them  were  totally  destroyed  by  fire  and 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  53 

water.*  At  this  siege  the  Spanish  batteries  discharged 
showers  of  shot  and  shell,  having  400  pieces  of  the  heav 
iest  artillery  playing  in  connection  with  the  water  bat 
teries,  the  whole  a  grand  exhibition  of  warfare  without 
its  parallel  in  the  world.  The  garrison  discharged  80,000 
red  hot  shot  during  the  attack,  and  when  the  enemy  was 
totally  defeated  the  generous  humanity  of  the  victors 
was  conspicuous  in  saving  the  lives  of  the  vanquished 
enemies  even  at  the  hazard  of  their  own."  At  Algeziras, 
on  the  bay,  was  a  stone  castle  built  by  O'Hara,  who  took 
an  oath  that  he  would  occupy  it  until  Gibraltar  surrend 
ered.  It  was  in  good  repair  in  1821,  and  was  called 
"O'Hara's  folly."  Gibraltar  Bay  is  in  the  form  of  a  horse 
shoe,  and  is  not  very  good  holding  ground  for  a  severe 
souther. 

During  a  Levanter  (gale  from  east),  I  have  seen  three 
tiers  of  clouds  ranging  on  the  west  side  over  the  city, 
plainly  showing  the  fortifications  on  the  summit,  with  its 
flag  on  the  staff  above  the  upper  stratum  of  clouds,  a 
singular  object  and  seemed  to  be  perched  up  in  the  heav 
ens  without  anything  to  support  it.  It  is  one  and  a 
fourth  miles  above  the  sea.  As  before  stated,  the  east 
side  of  the  rock  is  nearly  a  perpendicular,  and  cannot  be 
climbed  or  rather  never  has — and  in  looking  at  it, 
approaching  from  the  Atlantic,  it  somewhat  resembles  a 
sperm  whale — and  viewing  it  from  opposite  the  strait, 
the  whale  is  split,  the  east  side  thrown  away.  The  tail 

*  This  Armada  was  visible  at  the  bottom  of  the  bay  to  the  author  in 
1819.  It  lies  in  about  five  fathoms  of  water,  near  the  mole.  The 
whole  bay  is  white  sand,  and  in  ten  fathoms  of  water  we  sighted 
our  anchors  every  day  to  see  if  they  were  foul. 


54  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

is  the  most  southern  point  in  Europe.  Our  mail  obtained, 
a  little  marketing  done  at  the  old  Jew  stall,  and  a  very 
pretty  "  adieu,  Senore  Americano,"  from  the  little  Jew 
ess,  and,  loaded  down  with  fruit,  we  got  under  way  for 
Malta.  Had  a  splendid  run  to  Mount  Stromboli,  an 
uninhabited  burning  mountain  making  up  from  the  sea, 
in  the  form  of  a  sugar  loaf.  Its  south  end  is  a  bold 
shore,  while  a  reef  extends  a  long  distance  on  its  north 
end.  We  passed  it  southerly,  the  main  current  setting 
east ;  the  wind  left  us  when  about  three  miles  off,  and 
unfortunately  in  the  eddy  which  set  directly  on  it.  I 
compare  the  island  with  Faulkner's  Island,  in  Long  Isl 
and  Sound,  excepting  that  Stromboli  is  mountainous,  its 
crater  on  the  top.  The  weather  was  fine.  The  dog 
watch  was  set,  not  a  breath  of  wind.  The  skipper  cast 
his  eye  at  the  barometer,  and  ordered,  "  Lower  down 
both  top-gallant-sails,  man  your  clue  lines,  let  go  your 
sheets,  and  send  down  both  yards.  Come,  hurry  there, 
men — hurry  up,  Mr.  Thomas,"  and  the  men  were  stretch 
ing  their  necks  to  learn  the  cause,  but  the  skipper  did 
not  see  fit  to  enlighten  any  body  but  the  mate.  It  was 
just  seventeen  minutes,  and  the  yards  were  on  deck. 
The  skipper  immediately  ordered,  "  close-reefed  top-sails, 
jib  furled,  and  spanker  double-buttoned — the  fore  and 
main  courses  furled  snug,"  and  in  twenty  minutes  more 
the  little  brig  was  snug  as  a  bug.  The  eddy  tide  had 
set  toward  the  north  point  and  swept  us  not  more  than  a 
mile  off  the  island.  Everything  about  decks  was  well 
secured,  her  head  had  been  placed  to  southward ;  port 
tacks  aboard,  when  in  an  instant  the  Levanter  was  on 
us,  the  lee-rail  under.  The  skipper  had  the  last  sight  of 
the  island,  and  it  was  now  as  dark  as  pitch,  but  in  that 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  55 

last  bearings  he  figured  that  by  "  keel-hauling"  occa 
sionally  she  would  just  "  rub  and  go," — not  a  thing  but 
the  foam  about  the  vessel  to  be  seen.  Mr.  Thomas  was 
on  the  windlass-bits.  I  carried  the  message,  "  Can  you 
see  the  surf?  If  so,  tell  me  how  it  bears?"  "Nothing 
yet,  sir,"  and  the  skipper  gave  her  a  squeeze  of  two 
points.  She  shot  up  into  the  wind  and  off  again,  and 
thus  he  played  her,  but  it  seemed  as  if  her  masts  would 
jump  out  of  her.  The  anxiety  about  decks  was  immense, 
for  if  she  struck  it  was  certain  death.  "  Land,  O,"  was 
the  next  message  to  the  skipper.  It  blew  so  that  he 
could  only  hear  with  one  ear  to  leeward.  "  Do  you  see 
the  land,  or  the  clear  water  beyond  ?  If  so,  how  does  it 
bear?"  was  the  message,  and  again  I  went  back  with: 
"Two  points  under  the  lee  bow,  surf!"  and  again: 
"Three  points,"  when  the  skipper  gave  her  another 
squeeze,  and  off  again  instantly,  but  she  quivered,  and 
the  next :  "  Surf,  four  points,"  and  again :  "  Open  sea, 
abeam,"  and  again :  "  Open  sea,  abaft  the  beam,"  and 
Captain  Peter  stuck  his  head  under  the  spanker-boom, 
saw  he  was  going  clear,  sent  for  the  mate,  and  said: 
"Thank  God,  she  is  safe,  come  aft;  we  will  put  her 
head  to  northward,  and  lay  her  under  the  storm  stay 
sail."  Here  was  a  relief,  though  it  was  "  rub  and  go," 
and  done  by  close  calculation,  and  previous  preparation. 
If  the  barometer  had  not  been  consulted,  or  the  skipper 
had  not  heeded  her  indications,  nothing  could  have 
saved  us,  for  there  was  no  room  to  wear  ship,  and  she 
never  could  have  stayed  under  short  sail,  and  further,  if 
he  had  made  no  preparation  before  the  Levanter  was  on, 
she  would  have  been  on  a  lee  shore  before  sail  could 
have  been  shortened.  "  Coming  events,  with  him,  cast 


56  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

shadows  before,"  and  he  was  always  on  the  lookout  for 
them.  Who  but  my  old  schoolmaster,  would  think  of 
placing  a  ship  in  trim  for  a  gale,  when  a  calm  and  clear 
sky  prevailed?  But  what  were  the  indications?  I 
answer,  a  roll  of  the  sea  from  the  east;  falling  of  the 
barometer,  and  in  the  season  of  Levanters. 

Now  it  gives  the  author  much  real  satisfaction  to 
place  the  honors  on  the  good,  kind-hearted  old  salt,  and 
I  propose  to  hurry  forward  this  little  narrative,  in  order 
that  before  his  voyage  of  life  is  closed,  he  shall  have  the 
knowledge  of  my  sincere  and  earnest  thanks,  publicly 
expressed,  for  his  kindness  to  me  in  the  days  that  are 
past.  Ft  is  my  earnest  wish  that  he  may  have  a  pleasant 
closing  up  of  life,  a  triumphant  death,  and  a  harbor  in 
Christ's  kingdom,  where  he  will  need  no  chart,  compass, 
or  barometer,  and  where  the  sea  of  glory  will  not  be  dis 
turbed  with  Strombolis  or  Levanters.  But  to  resume. 

The  gale  held  us  about  eighteen  hours.  Wind  hauled 
to  northward  ;  laid  our  course  again  for  Malta ;  passed 
Stromboli  wTith  a  good  berth,  and  sighted  the  island  in 
three  days  ;  it  lays  in  lat.  35°  54'  N.,  long.  1 4°  28'  E.  from 
Greenwich.  We  were  signaled  when  about  eight  miles 
off,  and  soon  surrounded  with  boats,  all  clamorous  for 
the  job  of  towing.  Finally,  as  it  was  calm,  a  bargain 
was  made  for  two  strings,  twenty- four  boats,  and  away 
we  went  four  knots  an  hour,  and  anchored  in  a  beautiful 
harbor,  completely  land-locked,  and  in  ten  fathoms  of 
water.  This  harbor  was  for  fishermen  and  quarantine. 
In  the  center  of  the  harbor  is  a  small  island  with  fortifi 
cations  and  the  lazaretto.  The  island  lies  about  sixty 
miles  south  of  Sicily — is  twenty  miles  long  and  twelve 
wide,  containing  five  beautiful  harbors,  with  all  neces- 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  57 

sary  fortifications,  and  all  safe  anchorages.  The  main 
commercial  city  is  called  Valetta.  At  the  foot  of  this 
harbor  is  the  English  Navy  Yard.  In  1785  the  whole 
population  of  the  island  was  150,000.  The  entrance  to 
Valetta  harbor  is  about  half  a  mile  in  width,  and  con 
tinues  that  width  for  considerable  distance,  then  open 
ing  into  a  beautiful  bay,  extending  two  miles  from  the 
sea,  and  is  immensely  fortified  on  each  point  of  entrance. 
In  1821,  as  the  writer  entered  this  harbor,  there  was  on 
the  left  side  four  gibbets  or  gallows,  on  each  of  which 
was  hanging  in  a  swivel  chain  a  human  body,  two  con 
taining  skeletons,  one  with  considerable  flesh  on  it,  one 
still  alive,  and  hundreds  of  turkey  buzzards  feeding  on 
the  carcases.  The  scene  was  awful  beyond  description. 
On  inquiry  ashore,  we  found  that  all  persons  found 
guilty  of  piracy  were  condemned  to  this  horrid  mode  of 
death.  The  one  alive  was  encased  the  day  before,  hav 
ing  been  condemned  as  a  Moorish  pirate.  The  rock  of 
this  whole  island  is  a  cream  color,  quite  soft,  and  easily 
excavated.  Large  reservoirs  are  made  for  the  deposit  of 
wheat  and  provisions,  and  in  early  clays  sufficient  for  five 
years'  supply  was  kept  there.  The  language  is  Arabic 
and  Italian,  with  but  little  English.  Valetta  is  the  great 
thoroughfare  for  the  eastern  world,  and  the  key  for 
Asia  and  Africa.  Craft  of  almost  every  nation  and  rig 
are  here  to  be  found.  The  people  are  well  educated  in 
European  customs,  and  though  extravagant  in  dress,  are 
courteous  in  the  extreme  to  strangers.  The  city  is  sup 
plied  with  water,  led  from  near  the  ancient  city  of  "  Mil- 
ite,"  through  masonry  supported  by  1,000  arches,  and 
is  distributed  through  the  Marina  with  occasional  foun 
tains  free  to  all.  This  Marina  or  dock  fronting  the  city, 


58  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

is  the  great  promenade  on  Sunday,  which  is  their  best 
day  of  recreation.  The  weather  is  extremely  hot  in  the 
city,  but  the  Marina  with  its  occasional  shade  and 
breeze,  makes  it  a  charming  place.  Fruit  and  wine  are 
good,  plenty  and  cheap.  The  city  abounds  in  churches, 
the  largest  of  which  is  St.  Paul's,  which  in  company  with 
the  Mate  I  gave  a  thorough  examination  in  1820.  It  is 
massive  in  size,  quite  ancient  in  architecture,  built  with 
native  stone,  and  beautifully  polished  outside  and  in,  a 
vestibule  opening  into  the  body  of  the  church,  unob 
structed  by  seats  or  partition,  except  an  altar  inclosed 
in  heavy  railings  of  solid  silver,  confession  boxes  on  cas 
tors,  six  on  each  side.  The  whole  floor  mosaic  of  vari 
ous  colors  in  marble,  representing  the  cross,  various 
saints,  battle  scenes,  our  Saviour,  and  many  others ;  the 
work  so  finely  done  that  no  unevenness  or  roughness 
could  be  felt,  and  was  a  dazzling  sight  as  we  viewed  it 
from  the  entrance.  When  Napoleon  in  his  raid  for  plun 
der  in  Italy,  sacked  this  island,  the  costly  railing  round 
the  altar  of  this  church  escaped  the  notice  of  the  plun 
derers,  by  reason  of  its  heavy  coat  of  lead  paint,  which 
had  never  been  extracted,  except  in  occasional  places,  by 
"  wear  and  tear," — though  the  rascally  thieves  took  all 
the  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver  hanging  on  the  walls 
they  could  find,  said  by  our  worthy  sexton,  "  to  amount 
to  over  100,000  pasos"  (dollars).  However,  the  walls 
must  have  recuperated  in  the  same  line  of  goods,  for 
they  were  full, — offerings  made  to  the  saints,  in  silver 
and  gold,  for  favors  granted  or  petitioned  for.  The 
egress  and  ingress  of  people  was  immense.  The  confes 
sion  boxes  drove  a  thriving  trade — the  whole,  without 
confusion  or  noise,  every  person  stepping  lightly  and 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  59 

in  soft  slippers,  two  pairs  being  furnished  myself  and 
comrade  by  the  sexton,  who  could  prate  a  little  poor 
English.  I  may  as  well  here  say  that  our  sexton  having 
on  our  arrival  received  a  bright  Mexican  dollar,  was 
quite  disposed  to  show  all  that  was  to  be  seen  within  his 
jurisdiction,  and  after  being  satisfied  with  the  sights  on 
the  first  floor,  lighted  each  a  wax  candle,  and  led  the 
way  to  the  basement, — assuring  us  that  this  was  the 
embalmed  body  of  "  St.  Paul,"  this  was  "  St.  Peter," 
that  was  the  "  Virgin  Mary,"  and  by  the  number  of 
bodies  before  us,  he  would  have  gone  through  the  whole 
catalogue  of  saints,  popes,  and  cardinals,  had  not  1  said 
to  my  companion  u  this  spatters  too  much  of  the  marvel 
lous  for  me.  It  savors  of  catacombs ;  let  us  get  fresh 
air."  So  we  abruptly  put  a  stop  to  the  proceedings,  and 
turned  towards  the  stairs,  crying,  "  Muche  marlo,  Sig- 
nor."  "  No  caress."  "  Nente  boano,  Signor."  And  we 
passed  up  and  out,  exchanging  slippers  while  the  sexton 
pointed  us  to  the  font  of  holy  water  in  the  vestibule,  and 
to  please  him  we  both  took  a  tip. 

But  let  us  say  a  word  pbout  the  north  harbor.  Our 
captain  reported  to  our  consignee,  through  the  Custom 
House  at  the  lazaret,  a  small  building  with  iron  railing 
leading  to  low  water  mark,  within  the  enclosure  where 
all  boats  during  the  quarantine  of  their  vessels  must 
communicate  on  a  platform  with  folding  doors  opening 
into  a  large  room,  and  a  soldier  on  guard  to  prevent 
further  intrusion.  A  pole  of  fifteen  feet  is  run  out  wTith 
a  slit  in  the  end  to  receive  your  communications  without 
the  touch  ;  it  is  then  cut  through  and  through  by  stamp, 
held  over  a  smoke,  and  in  that  state  presented  to  the 
officers  of  Customs.  No  communication  can  be  received 


60  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

any  other  way,  and  thus  our  skipper  communicated  with 
his  consignee  at  Valetti,  and  entered  his  vessel.  They 
met  next  day  by  appointment,  talked  between  the  bars, 
passed  papers  and  letters  through  the  smoke,  obtained 
protigue  to  land  our  passengers  in  two  days  after  being 
examined  in  person  at  the  old  smoke  house,  and  liberty 
to  take  the  vessel  to  town  in  five  days;  provided  the 
examination  of  passengers  was  satisfactory,  and  also  that 
he  should  produce  officers,  crew  and  passengers  every 
morning  at  8  o'clock  at  the  "  Lazarett."  We  took  all 
hands  to  the  great  smoke  house,  were  scrutinized  closely, 
made  to  jump  twice,  and  without  the  chop  block,  or  the 
aid  of  smoke,  all  was  satisfactory,  and  during  all  this 
humbuggery,  we  were  kept  twenty  feet  from  the  officers. 
The  whole  operation,  childish  and  uncivil,  a  disgrace  to 
the  Island  of  Malta  and  the  English  flag.  Next  morn 
ing  we  took  all  hands  ashore,  formed  a  line  on  a  plat 
form,  skipper  at  the  head  and  Sam  at  the  rear— an  exhi 
bition  of  the  two  extremes  of  beauty.  Messrs.  Goodell 
and  Bird,  with  their  wives,  were  beautiful  and  noble, 
while  Sam,  though  gloriously  good,  was  the  most  awk 
ward,  ill-looking  piece  of  humanity  on  the  continent,  all 
except  his  eyes.  When  it  came  Sam's  turn  to  jump,  he 
substituted  the  song  and  dance  of  "  Away  down  in 
Dixey,"  to  the  great  amusement  of  officers  and  soldiers. 
The  door  of  the  great  "  Sanhedrim"  closed  amid  three 
rousing  cheers  with  a  tiger,  and  gave  its  echo  through 
the  bay  and  city,  to  the  wonder  and  astonishment  of  the 
people.  At  the  time  appointed,  our  passengers  were 
received  at  the  Lazarett  by  their  friends,  intending  to 
remain  at  Yaletti  previous  to  their  departure  for  Jerusa 
lem,  by  way  of  Joppa.  Thus  were  they  safely  landed 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  61 

after  a  confinement  in  small  dimensions  during  forty- 
seven  days,  beloved  by  every  soul  on  board  the  vessel, 
fit  messengers  to  spread  glad  tidings  of  great  joy 
through  the  plains  and  mountains  of  Palestine. 

Agreeable  to  decree  we  obtained  pratique  and  shifted 
anchorage  to  Yaletti.  The  following  Sunday,  with  the 
mate,  having  obtained  a  permit  from  the  Governor  with 
full  range  of  the  island,  we  took  a  carriage,  much  after 
the  Cuban  style,  to  see  the  ancient  city  of  Melite,  where 
Paul  was  shipwrecked,  and  to  examine  St.  Paul's  cave, 
both  about  ten  miles  distant  by  land.  The  road  led 
through  a  country  of  the  "  vine  and  fig  tree,"  fruit  of 
their  season  plenty  and  cheap,  grapes  and  bread  the 
staple.  Advice  from  friends  induced  us  to  convert  two 
Spanish  dollars  into  the  small  fractional  of  their  currency 
for  the  miserable  Ladrone  by  whom  we  should  be  in 
fested,  and  it  proved  a  judicious  movement.  We  reached 
the  entrance  to  the  cave,  fortunately  found  the  soldier 
and  guide  at  their  post,  to  whom  we  tendered  the  exam 
ination  of  our  permit,  and  before  it  was  read  by  the 
soldier  we  were  beset  by  about  500  men,  women  and 
children,  the  most  miserable,  filthy  beggars,  half-starved, 
clamorous,  more  like  wolves  than  human,  the  oiFscouring 
of  the  old  dilapidated  city.  We  were  prepared  to  see 
beggars,  owls  and  satyrs,  but  not  such  a  crew.  We  had 
the  antidote,  however,  and  threw  broadcast  a  handful 
of  change.  The  iron  gate  was  open  and  we  crowded  in, 
but  each  of  us  minus  a  handkerchief  and  glad  to  get  off 
at  that.  We  entered  the  cave  with  the  guide,  the  sol 
dier  outside  of  but  little  use  to  us ;  his  sympathies 
were  with  the  Ladrone,  not  us.  We  entered  the  cave 


62  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MED1TEBBANEAN. 

with  candles,  the  guide  and  my  right-hand  supporter  in 
my  pocket,  and  during  this  subterranean  passage  I  chose 
to  be  in  the  rear.  The  atmosphere  was  not  depressing, 
nor  the  passages  small.  We  opened  into  large,  square 
rooms  connected  with  passages  and  similar  rooms,  all 
cut  through  the  rock,  but  of  various  sizes.  We  followed 
the  first  one  perhaps  half  a  mile,  observing  that  new  pas 
sages  led  oiF  in  other  directions.  They  were  all  uniform 
in  size,  eight  feet  high  and  five  feet  wide,  rooms  about 
eighteen  feet  square,  of  equal  height  as  the  passages, 
which  were  circuitous.  The  ceilings,  walls  and  floors 
smooth,  apparently  done  by  square  and  level.  WTe  en 
tered  the  cave  facing  about  south.  The  rooms  and  pas 
sages  above  described  were  on  our  left  hand.  At  the 

O 

right  on  entering  were  two  similar  rooms  connecting 
with  two  smaller,  evidently  for  cooking  purposes,  though 
I  saw  no  outlet  for  smoke.  One  of  these  rooms  had 
niches  cut,  some  upright  and  others  horizontal,  appar 
ently  for  the  dead,  or  as  a  substitute  for  bedsteads. 
They  were  of  different  sizes,  from  the  adult  to  the  infant. 
The  whole  interior  of  these  various  excavations  we  judged 
covered  a  space  of  ten  acres.  Our  guide  insisted  that  the 
first  passage  named  extended  to  near  the  new  city,  and 
another  continued  westerly  to  near  the  sea,  and  that  if 
we  would  give  ourselves  time,  take  a  foot  guide,  in  a  day 
we  could  see  the  road  as  it  left  the  cave  and  afterwards 
trace  it  to  its  termination  at  the  sea.  To  corroborate 
this,  Payne  quotes  Brydone  thus :  "  That  on  this  side  of 
the  island  are  still  vestiges  of  several  ancient  roads, 
with  tracks  worn  deep  in  the  rocks.  These  roads  are 
now  terminated  by  the  precipice  with  the  sea  beneath, 
and  shows  that  the  island  has  in  former  ages  been  of 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  63 

larger  size  than  at  present,  but  the  convulsion  that  oc 
casioned  its  diminution  is  probably  much  beyond  the 
reach  of  any  history  or  tradition." 

The  cave  is  certainly  a  wonderful  production,  and  to 
give  a  full  and  thorough  description  of  it  needs  more 
time  than  two  sailor  boys  can  give.  Our  guide  was  an 
Englishman,  well  educated,  and  was  fully  conversant 
with  the  winding  passages  of  this  cave.  It  is  an  immense 
excavation,  and  the  writer  hazards  the  opinion  that  a 
stranger  without  a  compass  placed  twenty  rods  within 
it,  minus  a  guide,  would  starve  before  he  could  find  his 
way  out.  We  spent  two  hours  in  constant  movement 
and  knew  but  little  about  the  cave.  This,  said  our  guide, 
was  done  by  St.  Paul  and  his  followers  after  he  was  cast 
away,  and  pointing,  as  we  came  to  the  light  of  day  to  a 
little  inlet  not  rifle  shot  off",  said,  "there  is  where  he 
landed  under  pressure  of  a  "Levanter."  No  rubbish  or 
moisture  was  seen  or  felt  in  the  cave,  and  the  atmosphere 
as  easy  to  breathe  as  if  outside. 

Now  the  author  is  inclined  to  believe  that  poor  Paul 
never  had  anything  to  do  with  that  kind  of  business. 
In  my  opinion  his  time  was  fully  occupied  in  preaching 
the  Gospel.  He  had  too  much  courage  to  dig  an  asylum 
underground,  and  Jonah-like,  flee  from  duty  to  save  his 
life.  It  was  not  in  him  to  crawl  into  a  cave,  and  beside, 
all  the  disciples  with  all  their  friends  could  not  build 
that  cave  in  two  centuries.  Listen  to  history  :  "  The 
Phocians  were  the  original  occupants  of  Malta  and  were 
driven  out  by  the  Pho3nicians ;  these  by  the  Greeks  ; 
and  passed  from  them  to  the  Carthagenians ;  from  them 
to  the  Romans ;  who  were  subdued  by  the  Goths  ;  then 
by  the  Saracens;  from  whom  in  1090  the  Normans; 


64  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

after  which  it  had  the  same  masters  as  Sicily,  till  Charles 
V.  gave  it  to  the  Knights  of  Malta  and  Jerusalem." 
In  those  days  to  the  victor  came  the  .spoils.  A  part  of 
the  spoils  were  whole  towns  and  cities  made  prisoners 
from  Asia  and  Africa  and  used  as  slaves.  The  millions 
of  poor  that  could  not  pay  a  ransom  were  like  cattle, 
sent  to  different  parts  to  labor,  and  half  starved  to  die. 
No  doubt  these  plunderers  sent  some  of  those  slaves  to 
Malta  to  labor  and  to  death.  Paul's  was  a  mission  of 
peace,  not  of  war.  He  did  not  fight  for  gold,  territory, 
or  prisoners.  What,  think  you,  became  of  millions  upon 
millions  of  slaves  or  prisoners  taken  by  Alexander, 
Darius,  Cyrus,  Hannibal,  the  Carthagenians,  Rome,  and 
even  Napoleon,  during  their  raids  for  gold  and  plunder 
in  this  same  country  of  which  we  write,  and  if  you  get 
no  satisfactory  reply,  come  back  to  a  more  recent  date 
and  consult  the  Knights  of  Malta  and  Jerusalem,  and 
you  will  say  with  me  that  Paul  dug  no  caves,  but  these 
powerful  and  aristocratic  knights  did.  These  men  evi 
dently  wielded  an  immense  power,  and  any  Sir  Knight 
holding  a  gavel  could,  by  the  stroke  of  a  pen  at  five 
days'  notice  send  50,000  prisoners  to  Malta  to  dig  this 
cave,  to  which  the  order  itself  could  flee  when  they  in 
their  turn  should  be  overwhelmed.  Let  the  reader  un 
derstand  that  the  Knights  of  Malta  and  Jerusalem  were 
not  akin  to  the  Templars  of  our  day,  but  as  opposite  as 
day  is  to  night ;  the  former  seeking  power  and  plunder, 
aristocratic,  not  valuing  human  life  as  a  feather ;  the 
latter,  Samaritans,  good,  kind,  protectors  of  human  life, 
governed  by  the  principles  of  faith,  hope  and  charity. 

We  left  the  cave  in  full  belief  that  Paul  never  dark 
ened  its  portals,  and  as  in  the  case  of  the  bodies  of  the 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  65 

saints  mouldering  in  the  deep,  dark  basement  of  Saint 
Paul's  Church,  before  described.  We  took  no  stock  in 
what  our  guide  said.  Legend  and  tradition,  much  like 
old  fogy's  gossip,  "  grows  with  age  and  opportunity," 
and  yet  this  does  not  affect  the  magnitude  of  this  whole 
enterprise.  We  gave  the  guide  his  dollar,  and  following 
his  directions  were  soon  on  the  spot  where  the  "  anointed 
of  God "  was  shipwrecked.  It  lies  in  front  of  the  old 
city,  on  a  bold,  rocky  shore  on  a  small  inlet,  and  an  iron 
shaft  on  a  large  boulder  rock,  the  surroundings  answering 
the  Bible  history,  and  we  had  no  doubt  it  was  the  iden 
tical  spot  where  the  "two  seas  met." 

Our  next  move  was  for  a  stroll  among  the  ruins  of 
Melite,  a  wonderful  sight,  and  at  the  first  view  of  this 
ruined  city,  once  containing  150,000  inhabitants,  I  ex 
claimed,  Good  God  !  from  whence  proceed  such  melan 
choly  revolutions?  Why  are  so  many  cities  destroyed  ? 
Why  is  not  that  ancient  population  reproduced  and  per 
petuated  ?  The  temples  are  thrown  down,  the  palaces 
demolished,  the  ports  filled  up.  The  town  is  destroyed 
and  stripped  of  all  good  inhabitants,  and  the  beggar  and 
the  outcast  only  are  left.  It  seems  a  dreary  burying  place. 
This  ancient  city  is  a  mass  of  ruins,  peopled  by  beggars 
and  fishermen,  "  who  dry  their  nets  on  the  rocks."  The 
ruins  found  here,  prove  that  it  was  once  the  abode  of 
luxury  and  opulence,  but  "baldness  has  come  upon  it." 
"  It  is  forsaken  and  bereaved  of  its  king.  The  owl  and 
the  raven  (Turkey  buzzard)  dwell  therein.  The  mirth 
and  the  harp  ceaseth,  the  joy  of  the  tabret  also  cease. 
They  that  dwell  therein  are  desolate.  The  stranger  that 
shall  come  from  a  far  land  shall  say,  'I  will  give  the  city 
into  the  hand  of  strangers  for  a  prey,  for  the  robbers 
5 


66  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

shall  enter  into  it  and  defile  it.' "  And  with  these  proph 
ecies  in  my  mind,  associated  with  the  cave  in  question,  I 
said,  Can  it  be  that  this  is  the  judgment  on  this  people 
for  murdering  by  inches,  in  starvation  and  disease,  mil 
lions  upon  millions  of  poor  innocent  prisoners  taken  from 
the  interior  of  Asia  and  Africa,  and  doomed  to  labor  at 
Melite  for  the  gratification  of  a  few  men,  before  enum 
erated,  who  roamed  over  this  beautiful  country  for  con 
quest  and  gold?  Is  this  the  fulfillment  of  prophecies 
applicable  to  this  place  ?  This  is  not  Babylon,  and  yet 
it  is  a  part  of  "  the  country  of  the  Jews."  It  is  Pales 
tine,  "  one  of  the  isles  of  the  sea."  I  turned  my  back 
on  the  scene  and  again  mingled  in  civilization,  for  we 
had  witnessed  naught  but  desolation  and  misery.  We 
gave  another  broadcast  throw  of  small  coin  among  the 
crowd  of  beggars  that  had  covered  our  rear  since  we 
emerged  from  the  cave,  jumped  into  our  calash,  unlocked 
a  private  apartment  in  the  carriage,  drew  forth  our  bottle 
of  splendid  Catania  wine,  eight  pounds  of  grapes,  a  loaf 
of  bread,  and  "  talked  by  the  way  "  home.  On  the  fol 
lowing  Sunday,  at  the  quarters  of  the  American  consul, 
we  attended  religious  services  with  our  missionaries, 
shook  hands  with  all,  wished,  them  a  safe  trip  to  Joppa, 
and  parted.  We  heard  from  them  at  Jerusalem  on  the 
twelfth  day  after.  We  discharged  part  of  our  cargo, 
and  during  our  stay  were  overwhelmed  with  beautiful 
fruit  in  great  variety  at  small  cost,  offered  us  by  bum- 
boats. 

My  last  trip  on  shore,  if  not  profitable  was  certainly 
eventful,  and  your  humble  servant  the  hero.  A  lighter 
load  of  dye  woods  had  been  landed  on  the  Marina,  the 
boy  left  in  charge  till  the  carman  came.  I  mounted  the 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  67 

pile,  pockets  full  of  grapes,  and  a  hickory  stick  in  my 
hand.  I  soon  found  that  dock  wallopers  abounded  here 
as  well  as  in  New  York,  and  equally  as  bold ;  for,  with 
out  much  ceremony,  three  loafers  pitched  in  for  plunder, 
and  without  any  less  ceremony  I  brought  them  to  with 
the  hickory,  one  with  a  broken  finger,  and  drove  them 
off.  They  soon  brought  reinforcements,  and  about  a 
dozen  of  the  whelps  surrounded  the  pile.  This  drew 
quite  a  concourse  of  people,  and  they  claimed  I  should 
have  a  fair  shake.  My  position  was  again  on  top  of  the 
pile,  when  the  largest  loafer  took  up  a  stick  as  bold  as  a 
lion  ;  but,  before  he  got  outside  the  circle,  he  was  floored 
with  the  full  force  of  the  stick  across  his  shoulders,  an.d 
as  I  turned  to  assume  my  former  position  two  others 
pitched  in  to  avenge  their  comrade  and  I  got  a  peeler 
across  the  nose  and  lost  half  my  shirt.  The  crowd  had 
by  this  time  been  augmented  to  about  500  people.  One 
of  my  antagonists  was  outside  with  a  broken  arm,  but  I 
mounted,  and  as  I  did  so  I  noticed  a  soldier  on  the  trot 
coming  one  way,  and  old  Sam  with  an  oar  in  his  hand 
from  the  other,  the  latter  yelling,  "I'se  cummin'  Massa 
Charley  !"  and  before  he  got  through  the  crowd  a  chap 
opened  his  dirty  shirt  bosom  and  threw  a  louse  at  me. 
Now  it  did  not  make  any  difference  with  me  whether  it 
was  a  reality  or  a  sham.  I  made  for  him  and  fetched 
him  also.  We  were  in  the  tussle  when  Sam's  voice  was 
over  me,  "  Hold  on,  Massa  Charley  !  hold  on,  I'se  here  !" 
And  he  cut  a  swath  on  one  end  of  the  mob,  while  the 
soldier  cleared  the  way  on  the  other,  and  amid  the  cheers 
of  the  people  we  both  started  for  the  boat,  assisted  by 
the  soldier,  who,  having  had  the  rights  of  the  thing  ex 
plained,  escorted  us  both  to  the  boat  and  took  the  three 


t)8  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

wounded  loafers  to  the  guard  house.  The  carman  had 
arrived,  took  possession  of  the  wood  and  we  came  aboard. 
You  may  depend.  I  was  covered  with  blood  and  quite  a 
dirty  looking  subject.  The  morning's  Gazette  reported 
the  "  Yankee  boy  "  as  having  whipped  out  three  loafers 
who  attempted  to  steal  from  him.  One  a  finger  broken, 
one  an  arm  ditto,  and  the  other  considerably  bruised,  all 
committed  to  the  guard  house.  I  could  not  afford 
another  fight  lest  my  blows  would  not  be  as  lucky  in  my 
defense  and  kept  the  ship,  though  crowds  of  the  dirty 
creatures  were  on  the  Marina  every  day,  waiting  a  chance. 
My  only  fear  in  the  melee  was  the  stiletto. 

Having  all  in  readiness,  we  got  under  way  for  Messina, 
in  Sicily,  about  sixty  miles  distant.  The  second  day  we 
made  the  island,  having  had  moderate  winds,  and  by  nine 
o'clock  P.  M.  becalmed  in  the  strait  and  abreast  of  Mount 
^Etna,  and  two  miles  from  shore.  The  crater  was  in 
action,  throwing  out  upon  the  water  and  surroundings 
a  frightful  red  glare.  The  famous  whirlpools  of  Chary bdis 
were  outside  of  us,  not  more  than  two  miles,  and  a  stark 
calm.  The  position  was  anything  but  pleasant,  no 
anchorage,  and  a  strong  current  setting  through  the 
strait,  and  it  made  a  long,  gloomy  night,  not  a  star  or 
speck  of  land  to  be  seen.  The  elevation  of  the  light, 
alternated  by  smoke  and  fire,  thrown  on  us  from  sudden 
flashes,  was  a  scene  beyond  my  ability  to  describe.  Im 
mense  quantities  of  lava  flowed  down  the  mountain,  and 
the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  morning  was  covered  with 
pummice.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  a  sympathy  exists 
between  ^Etna  and  Stromboli,  never  burning  together. 
The  latter  was  inactive  as  we  passed  it  going  up,  and  the 
former  had  ceased  to  burn  on  our  passage  down,  but  we 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  69 

found  Stromboli  in  full  blast.  I  propose  to  give  a  pretty 
thorough  description  of  ^Etna  by  reason  of  a  personal 
inspection  I  gave  it  while  lying  at  Messina. 

While  we  lay  at  Messina,  ./Etna  gave  evidence  of  her 
internal  troubles  by  three  shocks  of  sufficient  magnitude 
to  frighten  the  inhabitants  to  seek  protection  on  the 
Marina.  It  was  estimated  that  20,000  people  rushed 
there  and  gathered  in  clusters  around  a  priest,  each 
clinging  to  another,  touching,  if  possible,  the  hem  of  his 
garment,  and  I  noticed  that  the  same  virtue  was  expected 
from  a  young  priest  of  twelve  as  of  an  aged  friar.  The 
dress  is  alike  in  black,  and  all  wear  a  chapeau  in  the  same 
manner  that  the  captain  of  the  New  Haven  Artillery 
wore  as  a  part  of  his  regimentals  in  1812,  vide  Egbert 

P .     ./Etna  did  not  repeat  her  throb,  and  the  people 

at  sundown  went  home.  We  entered  the  harbor  of  Mes 
sina  in  the  morning,  doomed  to  five  days  quarantine, 
where  every  morning  all  hands  were  formed  in  line, 
fronting  the  health  officers,  and  (as  at  Malta)  obliged  to 
jump  up  and  down  twice  at  least,  and  in  regular  order 
of  grade,  but  privileged  to  dance  as  a  substitute.  Before 
we  obtained  pratique  there  was  so  much  anxiety  to  see 
our  old  cook  dance  that  it  was  understood  the  services 
should  commence  with  our  crew  first.  This  would  enable 
all  concerned  to  be  present  on  that  momentous  occasion, 
in  which  Sam's  dance  and  song  of  "Away  down  in 
Dixey  "  was  the  governing  feature,  for  he  could  sing  as 
well  as  dance  it.  In  due  time  we  hauled  over  to  the 
city  across  the  bay,  and  of  course  had  liberty  of  the  city. 
The  Marina  is  about  two  miles  long,  of  rectangular  form, 
fronting  the  city,  divided  by  a  strong  wall,  is  wide, 
beautiful  and  commodious,  and  one  of  the  finest  walks 


70  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

in  the  city.  A  portion  of  it  is  shaded  with  trees,  a  front 
view  of  the  shipping,  the  forts,  and  the  bay.  Nearly  all 
nations  are  represented  here,  and  on  Sunday  the  ships  are 
dressed  out  in  bunting.  Like  Malta,  Sunday  is  the  holi 
day  and  is  devoted  to  amusement.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  see  15,000  people  on  the  promenade.  Water 
fountains  are  in  profusion  ;  fruit  and  lemonade  pedlers 
also.  Various  fountains,  representing  Hercules,  Neptune, 
and  various  knights,  and  animals,  each  with  several  jets 
of  water  leading  into  reservoirs,  free  to  all.  The  police 
department  is  quite  effective.  The  Marina  is  swept  clean 
by  the  chain-gang  every  morning  by  sunrise.  The  writer, 
in  all  his  stay  in  Sicily,  never  saw  a  native  the  worse 
for  liquor.  That  habit  was  only  embraced  by  foreigners, 
with  a  wonderful  ascendancy  in  favor  of  the  English  and 
Yankees. 

The  island  produced  fine  beef  and  mutton,  with  a 
world  of  nuts,  oranges  and  figs.  The  climate  is  so  hot 
that  even  in  our  winter  the  shade  is  refreshing.  Chilly 
winds  in  the  day  are  only  felt  in  March.  The  only 
appearance  of  winter  is  found  near  the  summit  of  yEtna, 
where  snow  is  sometimes  seen.  And  now  for  Mount 
./Etna.  Figures  I  have  borrowed  from  Brydone,  who 
like  myself  visited  this  wonderful  curiosity.  In  making 
the  island  of  Sicily  it  looks  like  an  immense  chimney. 
The  ascent  to  the  crater  by  way  of  Catanea  is  said  to 
be  30,000  paces,  but  by  Rondazzo  is  only  20,000. 
JEtna  is  divided  into  three  distinct  regions ;  these  three 
are  as  different,  both  in  climate  and  productions,  as  the 
three  zones  of  the  earth,  and  may  be  styled  with  propri 
ety,  the  torrid,  the  temperate,  and  the  frigid  zones. 
The  first  region  surrounds  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  l 

forms  the  most  fertile  country  in  the  earth  on  all  sides 
of  it,  to  the  height  of  about  fifteen  miles ;  where,  the 
woody  region  begins,  it  is  composed  almost  entirely  of 
lava,  which  after  many  ages  is  at  length  converted  into 
the  most  fertile  soil.  The  woody  region,  or  temperate 
zone,  is  composed  of  one  vast  forest  that  extends  all 
around  the  mountain.  Here  are  enormous  chestnut  trees, 
one  of  which,  "  castagno  de  cento  cavilli,"  which  for  some 
centuries  past  has  been  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  great 
est  wonders  of  ^Etna.  The  appearance  is  like  that  of 
five  trees  growing  together,  but  Recupero  has  found 
that  all  the  stems  unite  under  ground  in  one  root,  and 
on  close  examination,  it  is  discovered  that  these  five 
trees  were  once  really  united  in  one.  There  is  a  large 
opening  in  the  middle  measuring  204  feet  around,  that 
was  once  occupied  by  solid  timber. 

The  circumference  of  the  temperate  zone  is  not  less 
than  seventy  miles.  The  barren  region,  or  frigid  zone, 
is  marked  by  a  circle  of  snow  and  ice,  which  extends  on 
all  sides  to  the  distance  of  about  eight  miles.  In  the 
center  of  this  circle  the  great  crater  of  the  mountain 
rears  its  burning  head,  and  the  region  of  intense  cold 
and  of  intense  heat  seems  to  be  forever  united  in  the 
same  point.  This  last  region  the  writer  calls  the  fourth 
region,  or  that  of  fire,  which  has  given  being  to  all  the 
rest.  The  crater  is  a  circle  of  about  three  and  a  half 
miles  in  circumference,  and  forms  a  hollow  like  a  vast 
amphitheater,  and  is  so  hot  that  it  is  dangerous  and 
unsafe  to  enter  it.  Still  it  has  been  done  by  several  par 
ties  ;  once  by  Commodore  Elisha  Peck,  U.  S.  Navy, 
formerly  a  resident  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  but  now  dead. 
He  said  he  put  a  silver  dollar  in  the  slit  of  a  long  pole 


72  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

and  dipped  it  in  the  liquid  lava.  The  author  was  fully 
satisfied  with  feasting  his  eyes  on  this  wonderful  sight, 
and  had  no  desire  to  step  over  the  edge  of  the  crater, 
even  when  the  mountain  was  quiet.  It  is  still  very  gen 
erally  supposed  by  these  Sicilians,  that  ^Etna  is  the 
mouth  of  hell,  and  that  Anna  Boleyn  has  been  burning 
in  the  mountain  during  two  centuries,  for  the  crime  of 
inducing  Henry  VIII.  to  renounce  the  religion  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Thucydides  is  the  most  early  writer 
who  speaks  of  eruptions  from  ^Etna,  and  enumerates 
three  at  the  close  of  his  book; 'the  latter  of  these  hap 
pened  in  the  spring  424  B.  C.,  and  another  fifty  years 
earlier,  but  to  the  first  he  gives  no  date.  Pindar 
composed  an  ode  in  the  78th  Olympiad,  five  years  after 
the  second  eruption  mentioned  by  Thucydides,  in  which 
he  describes  that  scene,  and  retains  the  ridiculous  notion 
held  by  the  ancients,  that  Jupiter  had  buried  many 
giants  under  Mount  ^Etna,  and  their  struggling  to  get 
loose  was  the  cause  of  its  eruptions.  PZucretus  has 
spoken  of  the  cause  which  produced  the  eruption  in  his 
6th  book.  In  the  year  1669  a  violent  eruption  continued 
six  weeks,  and  the  lava  in  its  course  overwhelmed  four 
teen  towns  and  villages,  destroying  3,000  inhabitants. 
Twelve  years  after,  the  city  of  Catanea  was  entirely 
overwhelmed  by  a  tremendous  earthquake,  felt  through 
Sicily,  Malta,  and  the  Continent,  by  which  93,000  peo 
ple  suffered  death.  Since  that  time  there  have  been 
three  remarkable  eruptions — in  1753,  1755,  and  1783. 
In  the  latter  year  the  lava  reached  Palermo,  and  caused 
great  destruction  in  its  course.  Since  that  time  it  has  had 
twelve  slight  eruptions.  The  inhabitants  of  Sicily  are  a 
social,  sprightly  people,  quite  extravagant  in  dress,  and 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  73 

use  Sunday  for  promenade  and  amusements.  The 
Marina  is  the  great  place  of  attraction,  in  which  sailors 
from  the  shipping  usually  mingle  to  a  large  extent. 
Numbers  of  jacks  or  "  borckas"  are  brought  on  the 
ground  to  hire  to  the  sailors  to  ride ;  price  one  dollar  a 
day.  They  are  a  small  animal,  long  ears,  and  make 
quite  an  interesting  whinny,  especially  in  the  excite 
ment  usual  on  such  occasions.  Their  gait  is  a  kind  of 
shuffling  pace,  and  are  sometimes  quite  fast.  They  are 
better  suited  for  packing  than  the  saddle,  but  in  the 
absence  of  horses,  are  well  adapted  for  sailors.  Our 
crew -voted  a  "borcka"  ride,  and  with  old  Sam,  of 
course,  we  walked  ashore  one  Sunday  morning,  having 
previously  ordered  six  of  those  interesting  locomotives. 
Old  Sam  was  always  counted  in,  on  all  occasions  of 
frolic ;  in  fact  he  was  a  necessity,  for  we  generally  went 
Scott  free  when  he  was  with  us.  His  pleasant,  funny 
face,  and  frolicsome  gestures,  mixed  with  music  and  dan 
cing,  commanded  respect,  together  with  all  the  fruit  and 
wine  we  wanted.  The  jacks  arrived  in  front  of  our  ves 
sel,  and  on  this  extraordinary  occasion  it  brought  a  great 
crowd.  A  jack  was  reserved  for  Sam,  that  had  been 
educated  to  balk  unless  punched  with  a  sharp  instru 
ment  forward  of  the  saddle ;  the  secret  was  with  the 
muleteer  and  myself.  We  mounted  amid  the  cheers  of 
2,000  people,  but  the  darkey  was  the  center  of  attrac 
tion,  with  his  Sunday  toggery,  looking  (all  but  color)  like 
a  midshipman,  his  face  radiant  with  smiles,  whip  and 
umbrella  in  hand,  mounted,  or,  I  should  more  properly 
say,  straddled  the  jack,  both  feet  reaching  the  ground, 
gathered  up  the  reins  and  sang  out,  "  Go  lang,  horse,  go 
lang  smoonly,"  pressed  him  with  his  knees,  and  to  his 


74  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

astonishment  the  jack  braced  his  fore  feet  and  would  not 
move  a  hair's  breadth,  but  opened  his  mouth  with  a 
whinny  of  extraordinary  length  and  power,  which  was 
answered  by  his  fellows  all  over  the  Marina,  but  he 
would  not  go.  We  turned  back  to  see  the  sport,  amid 
an  uproar  of  cheers  from  the  crowd.  It  was  a  rich  scene. 
Sam  stood  facing  the  jack,  talking  Congo,  Italian  and 
English  amalgamated,  addressed  to  the  animal  in  tones 
of  endearment  so  soft  and  smooth  that  anything  but  a 
jack  would  have  softened  into  compliance;  patted  him, 
rubbed  down  his  short  legs,  sent  on  board  for  a  biscuit, 
took  up  his  fore  feet,  and  finally,  a  little  out  of  patience, 
took  up  both  hind  legs,  wheelbarrow-fashion,  but  it  was 
no  go.  The  jack  was  a  fixture.  The  crowd  increased  in 
numbers  as  the  scene  grew  interesting,  but  finally  the 
muleteer  put  in  his  appearance,  saw  that  Sam  was  well 
straddled,  handed  him  the  reins,  whispered  in  the  jack's 
ear,  gave  the  punch,  and  away  he  went,  heels  in  the  air, 
Sam  with  a  good  hug  round  the  animal's  neck,  but  the 
rider  kept  his  position ;  the  animal  quieted  down  and 
covered  the  rear  of  our  cavalcade.  With  his  blue 
umbrella,  Sam  rode  as  proudly  as  a  king,  having  a  care 
that  his  black  face  should  not  be  made  the  whiter  by 
reason  of  the  sun.  We  returned  into  the  Marina  about 
3  o'clock,  with  an  immense  crowd  in  our  wake,  "  order 
of  march  reversed;"  Sam  on  the  right,  and  well  did  he 
deserve  the  honors,  the  waving  of  handkerchiefs  from 
the  dwellings,  and  the  cheers  from  the  streets.  He 
returned  the  salutes  by  a  tip  of  that  laced  cap  as  grace 
ful  as  any  of  our  newly-elected  governors  at  their  inaug 
uration,  and  it  would  astonish  any  of  our  white  officials. 
I  well  remember  the  beautiful  Grecian  bend  of  that  long 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  75 

neck,  the  white  teeth,  and  those  long  legs  operating  as 
propellers  to  a  velocipede.  The  whole  thing  a  grand 
ovation  from  beginning  to  end.  We  were  loaded  down 
with  choice  cakes,  flowers,  and  fruits,  and  I  doubt  if 
Earl  Roger  in  1130,  as  he  passed  over  the  same  ground, 
on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  received  more  atten 
tion  than  the  jolly  crew  of  the  Shepherdess  did  in  1822 — 
and  wonderful  to  relate,  we  were  all  sober,  and  not  an 
insult  was  offered  us  during  the  day.  Good  for  the  peo 
ple  of  Messina  ! 

Our  return  cargo  was  wine,  oranges,  lemons,  and  bird 
seed,  and  we  bid  adieu  to  Sicily,  bound  for  New  York. 
Passed  Stromboli  on  the  third,  and  Gibraltar  on  the 
eighth  day  out.  Came  through  the  strait  in  company 
with  eighty  sail  of  vessels.  Our  readers  may  remember 
the  calm  we  endured  in  the  horse  latitude,  on  our  out 
ward  passage.  We  were  now  reaping  the  harvest  of 
that  eight  days  spent  among  the  fish.  The  vessel's  bot 
tom  was  completely  covered  with  clam  barnacles,  to  that 
extent  that  seven  knots  an  hour  was  the  best  speed,  with 
a  favorable  breeze,  and  they  were  growing  fast.  Vari 
ous  experiments  were  tried  to  extract  them,  one  of  which 
was  to  sling  the  boy  in  a  bolin'  over  the  vessel's  counter 
with  a  hoe,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  W^e  had  the  Atlantic 
to  cross,  with  a  portion  of  cargo  perishable,  and  in  view 
of  this  our  skipper  was  uneasy  in  the  extreme,  and  barn 
acles  of  the  clam  species  grew  fast.  The  only  consola 
tion  was,  we  could  count  on  good  fishing  during  the  pas 
sage.  About  midway  across  we  took  a  severe  gale,  with 
a  heavy  cross-sea,  wind  about  west.  We  got  the  vessel 
in  good  trim  and  hove  her  to.  Grog  was  ordered  by  the 
skipper,  and  to  save  the  old  cook  the  job,  I  took  the  tin 


76  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

pot  to  the  cabin,  crawled  out  of  door,  waited  for  a  good 
chance  to  dodge  the  seas,  and  made  a  dive  for  the  lee  of 
the  long  boat.  Sam  had  kept  his  eye  on  the  boy,  and 
lest  he  should  get  washed  overboard,  he  stepped  out  of 
the  galley  at  the  time  I  was  reaching  for  the  boat's  gripe, 
and  at  the  instant  a  tremendous  sea  broke  all  over  the 
decks  and  boat,  which  lifted  me  off  my  feet,  lost  my 
hold,  and  as  the  vessel  surged  to  windward,  I  was  going 
over  the  lee  rail  head  first  in  the  receding  sea,  but  the 
watchful  old  cook  jumped  into  the  waste,  grabbed  my 
heel,  and  hauled  me  on  deck — tin  pot  in  left  hand,  but 
rum  all  gone — and  with  his  eyes  full  of  water,  shoved 
me  up  to  the  galley,  got  a  good  hold,  and  tried  to  speak ; 
he  finally  succeeded,  with  that  sweet  smile,  even  under 
the  excitement,  and  said:  "  Massa  Charley,  we're  safe 
agin' ;  but  child,  done  you  get  de  grog  no  more  for  de 
men ;  we'll  jus  lef  'um  get  dare  owns  grog,  but  we're 
safe ;  now  tank  God  for  dat ;"  and  he  clapped  both  arms 
around  me  like  the  hug  of  a  great  bear,  and  cried  like  a 
child  for  joy ;  and  after  throwing  off  the  water  from  my 
stomach,  I  was  in  pretty  good  condition,  made  better  by 
a  pot  of  good  coffee  and  a  slapper.  Fresh  water  flowed 
freely  from  Sam's  eyes,  wrhere  a  few  moments  before  he 
was  blinded  with  salt.  True  affection  and  reciprocal  on 
my  part,  for  when  Sam  let  go  his  hold  to  save  your  hum 
ble  servant,  his  chance  for  life  was  but  little  better  than 
mine,  but  he  did  not  count  the  cost.  The  gale  continued 
to  increase,  and  hauled  more  southerly,  with  a  tremend 
ous  chop,  and  unsafe  to  scud.  During  the  night  the 
wrind  veered  westerly,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  little  craft 
could  not  weather  it,  at  times  the  sea  boarding  her  from 
opposite  directions  at  the  same  time,  but  like  the  duck, 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  77 

she  would  shake  herself,  ready  for  another  wallow. 
"Waist  boards"  were  all  out.  Forecastle  hatch  bat 
tened  down,  dead  lights  in,  and  the  vessel  again  under 
the  storm  stay-sail.  This  was  all  we  could  do  for  her, 
whether  she  went  up  or  down,  and,  sailor-like,  we  were 
disposed  to  accept  the  circumstances,  certainly  a  happy 
frame  of  mind  to  be  in.  She  worried  all  night  at  it ; 
seemed  to  be  in  good  heart  in  the  morning,  when  the 
wind  died  out,  and  we  made  sail.  On  an  examination 
of  my  log,  I  find  that  in  the  year  previous  we  took  a 
gale  of  greater  magnitude  in  the  same  latitude  and  craft, 
under  charge  of  same  skipper,  and  if  the  reader  will 
bear  with  me  I  will  relate  it. 

We  were  bound  home  from  Malaga,  deeply  loaded  with 
raisins,  in  which  your  humble  servant  was  one  of  the 
crew.  The  gale  was  from  the  west.  Put  the  vessel 
under  short  sail,  sent  down  topgallant  yards  and  hove 
her  to.  The  sea  and  gale  increasing,  we  took  in  every 
thing,  and  set  the  old  favorite  "  storm  stay-sail,"  on  the 
main  stays,  its  hoist  on  the  mainmast.  Tack  on  an  iron 
strap  on  the  foremast  over  the  cook's  galley,  and  sheets 
hauled  aft,  containing  but  thirty  yards  heavy  canvass, 
and  during  twelve  hours  she  made  good  weather,  until 
the  wind  canted  up  good  N.  N.  E.,  and  increased  to  a 
tornado.  The  crew  were  taken  out  of  the  forecastle, 
hatches  well  secured,  dead  lights  all  in,  life  lines  run  out 
side  the  rail  between  the  standing  rigging,  decks  all 
clear,  waist-boards  out,  and  at  meridian  the  gale  still 
increased.  Our  Mate,  Mr.  Isaac  English,  was  below, 
sick,  your  humble  servant  installed  second  Mate  ad  inte 
rim.  We  all  stood  at  the  break  of  the  quarter-deck. 
The  skipper  as  calm  as  a  clock,  his  eye  to  windward, 


78  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

and  aloft,  and  the  sea,  by  reason  of  the  great  force  of 
the  wind,  was  smooth,  apparently  one  mass  of  foam, 
rushing  and  hissing,  and  with  it  in  mighty  power  came 
the  puff,  it  struck  the  vessel ;  she  yielded  to  its  force, 
and  in  an  instant  was  on  her  beam  ends,  an  unwieldy 
mass  of  wood  and  iron.  This  required  immediate  action, 
for  if  she  lay  in  this  position  till  the  return  of  the  sea 
(which  was  sure  to  follow)  she  would  never  rise  again. 
The  wind  was  fearful  as  the  requiem  sounded  through 
the  blocks  and  rigging,  and  the  little  brig  could  not 
respond.  She  was,  while  in  that  position,  dead,  and  bid 
fair  to  be  our  coffin.  The  skipper  turned  to  his  best 
man  and  yelled  in  his  ear :  "  Go  forward,  cut  the  stay 
sail  becket,  and  let  it  go  up."  The  man  hesitated ;  he 
turned  to  another,  and  he  refused — coward,  as  he  was ; 
when,  understanding  the  situation,  I  pulled  off  my  cap 
and  coat,  and  started,  but  the  skipper's  hand  was  on  my 
shoulder,  and  putting  his  mouth  to  my  ear,  said  :  "  No, 
boy,  I  want  you  here.  If  I  get  washed  overboard,  you 
must  get  her  before  the  wind,  but  don't  cut  away  the 
rigging,  the  sea  will  be  on  again  when  the  wind  lulls ; 
if  I  succeed,  right  your  helm  when  she  gets  way  on  her," 
and  cat-like  he  mounted  over  on  her  side,  caught  hold  of 
the  life-line,  lost  his  footing  twice  before  he  reached  the 
fore  rigging,  crawled  round  to  the  "  cat  heads,"  to  the 
"stay-sail  nettings,"  out  knife  and  cut — up  went  the 
"  stay-sail"  like  a  shot  from  a  gun,  took  the  wind,  she 
paid  off  beautifully,  gradually  gathered  way,  and  like  a 
bird  came  up  on  her  keel,  with  life.  I  saw  Captain 
Peter  as  she  righted,  making  fast  the  stay-sail  halyards, 
up  to  his  neck  in  water,  and  with  his  right  hand  giving 
motion  for  three  cheers,  though  I  doubt  that  he  heard 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  79 

them  himself.  As  she  came  on  to  her  keel  the  boy  met 
her  with  her  helm,  and  off  she  went  a  living,  breathing 
thing.  The  Captain  came  aft,  without  any  visible  excite 
ment,  got  the  yards  square,  and  as  he  stepped  on  to  the 
quarter-deck,  with  a  look  of  withering  scorn,  in  a  loud 
voice,  said :  "  Try  the  pumps,  you  cowards ;  and  go 
below  till  I  call  you !"  Agreeably  to  his  prophecy,  the 
sea,  as  though  having  gained  new  energies,  rolled  and 
threshed  worse  than  ever.  We  took  in  the  storm  stay 
sail,  set  the  close-reefed  main  top-sail,  and  the  good  man 
with  the  boy  "scud"  her  "trick  a  trick"  till  the  gale 
abated. 

"  Honor  to  whom  honor  is  due."  He  was  ready  for 
any  emergency.  Had  he  neglected  "  dead  lights,"  "  fore 
scuttle,"  and  "upper  yards,"  she  never  would  have 
righted,  for  raisins  grow  heavy  when  water-soaked,  and 
a  vessel,  under  all  the  circumstances,  could  not  have 
righted  by  cutting  away  her  masts.  He  knew  that  our 
doom  was  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  or  our  bodies  would 
be  food  for  sharks,  if  she  was  not  on  her  feet  before  the 
sea  began  its  mountainous  ravings  again. 

We  found  our  cargo  in  splendid  order  on  discharging 
it  in  New  York.  Weather  cleared  up,  the  gale  abated, 
and  now  let  us  return  to  our  present  voyage. 

Plenty  of  fish,  plenty  of  wind,  but  on  the  coast  we  got 
soundings  off  Chincoteague  Shoal,  rigged  our  long  geer 
for  codfish.  Hove  to  a  half  hour,  and  caught  all  we 
wanted ;  squared  away  with  wind  southwest ;  made  the 
highlands,  but  before  we  got  a  pilot  the  wind  popped 
out  northwest  and  cold ;  were  obliged  to  heave  to,  and 
drifted  off  to  southward  of  the  Gulf  Stream.  Wind 
backed  round ;  headed  her  up  for  the  Hook  again ;  got 


80  A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

soundings  off  Barnegat ;  wind  southwest ;  everything 
set ;  came  up  with  Sandy  Hook ;  wind  came  out  again 
northwest  at  midnight,  held  us  three  days,  and  off  she 
went  again;  came  up  the  third  time,  got  hold  of  the 
light  at  Sandy  Hook,  about  9  o'clock  p.  M.  and  no  pilot ; 
wind  northeast,  light;  indications  of  another  nor'wester; 
plumped  her  into  the  horse-shoe ;  skipper  determined 
not  to  be  blown  off  again ;  overhauled  a  good  scope  of 
both  cables  (hemp)  and  just  as  the  prelude  to  the  nor'- 
wester  struck  us;  we  found  four  fathoms  water;  let  go 
both  anchors ;  paid  out  to  the  better  end ;  let  fly  every 
thing  ;  clued  up,  and  had  every  sail  "  furled"  but  the 
main  top-sail,  clued  it  up,  hauled  out  the  "  earings,"  six 
of  us  on  the  yard,  Sam  and  the  second  Mate  at  the  yard 
arm ;  the  latter  outside  ;  I  was  in  the  act  of  hauling  up 
the  "  dog's  ear"  when  the  nor'wester  pounced  on  us,  and 
as  my  body  was  leaning  over  the  yard  it  gave  the  sail  a 
twitch,  took  me  clean  over  the  yard,  and  as  I  went  I 
caught  the  reef  tackle,  hung  by  the  right  hand,  and, 
without  a  good  grip,  should  have  dropped  overboard 
clear  of  the  vessel;  but  while  the  boy  hung  in  that  posi 
tion  he  felt  Sam's  hand  in  his  collar,  and  you  may  depend 
he  brought  me  up  till  I  fastened  to  the  "  lift"  and  got 
position  again  on  the  yard.  It  was  so  dark  that  we 
could  not  see  one  another,  nor  could  we  hear.  All 
necessary  remarks  and  exclamations  from  Sam  were 
reserved  till  we  were  all  snug,  and  as  we  gathered 
around  the  old  galley,  with  a  pot  of  grog,  the  vessel  rid 
ing  out  the  gale,  Sam  said  to  me:  "  Massa  Charley, 
u'ze  a  charmed  chicken ;  u'ze  may  be  hanged,  but 
u'ze  nebber  will  be  drowned."  Sam  was  my  trusty 
body-guard,  not  only  this  voyage,  but  many  others,  and 


A    VOYAGE    UP    THE    MEDITERRANEAN.  81 

in  the  intervals  made  his  home  in  the  family.  He  finally 
withdrew  from  the  sea,  and  sighing  for  the  "  iron  pots" 
and  "  skimmers,"  was  installed  as  cook  in  a  nice  little 
brick  building  attached  to  the  alms  house,  equally  as 
happy  as  in  his  palmy  days.  He  would  not  eat  the 
bread  of  idleness,  preferring  his  old  occupation,  and  in 
the  absence  of  the  writer  and  family  from  New  Haven, 
Sam's  account  with  this  world  was  closed  at  the  age  of 
45.  "  Sit  tibi  terra  levis"  "Light  lie  the  earth  on  thee." 
But  to  resume  our  voyage.  We  were  in  the  "  horse 
shoe,"  riding  out  the  "  nor'wester,"  with  "best  bower" 
anchor  "  backed"  with  the  "  kedge,"  where  she  lay  till 
morning  ;  took  a  pilot  and  went  to  the  city ;  making  the 
passage  in  fifty-six  days  from  Sicily.  Fruit  in  fair  order. 
Remark  Special. — This  has  been  quite  an  eventful 
voyage,  it  certainly  has  to  the  writer ;  for  had  not  his 
two  guardian  angels  constantly  hovered  over  him,  I 
mean  the  skipper  and  old  Sam,  we  never  could  have 
given  you  this  narrative,  and  I  should  not  have  been 
placed  in  the  position  to  render  "honor  to  whom  honor 
is  due." 

Advice. — Don't  send  a  boy  to  sea  in  the  hands  of 
unprincipled  men,  in  order  to  effect  a  cure  of  the  "  14- 
year-old  fever,"  for  generally  it  is  a  failure.  Pick  out 
the  Peter  Storer  kind,  and  your  boy,  if  bright,  will  make 
a  man,  and  if  with  a  grateful  heart,  and  he  cannot 
express  it  "  viva  voce"  perhaps  before  he  arrives  at  the 
age  of  73,  he  will  publish  it  in  a  book,  and  scatter  the 
facts  of  his  treatment  broadcast.  This  voyage  certainly 
was  a  compound  of  gales,  calms,  dangers,  escapes,  fun 
and  frolic. 


CARD. — Summer  Boarding  at  Short  Beach,  Branford, 
Conn.  Stages  three  times  a  day  to  and  from  New  Haven. 
Opens  June  1st — till  November.  Price  $10  per  week. 

C.  F.  HOTCHKISS. 


CALIFORNIA   IN    1849. 

Two  sons  on  the  way,  Dec.  1848 — Ship  Orpheus — Passage  by  steamer 
Crescent  City,  Sept.  1849 — Death  and  Burial  at  Sea— Gold  the  gen 
eral  topic  with  500  Passengers — Touched  at  Havana — Arrival  at 
Chagres — Miserable  Hole — Constant  rains  and  excessive  heat — 
Effects  of  Gambling — Boatmen  and  Canoes — Alcaldi — Mutiny — 
Capt.  Henry  Thompson  of  East  Haven — Good  Pluck — At  Crusus — 
Demand  for  Mules — Advice  of  an  American — My  mule  Americanus 
— Dead  and  balky  Mules — Entered  the  gorge  left  foot  first — Rains 
and  Mud — Beautiful  Scenery — Lizards  and  Snakes — Route  for  Treas 
ure — Large  transfers  for  ages — Beef  by  the  yard — Sylvester  Potter's 
Horses — Safe  arrival  at  Panama — Affection  for  Americanus — U.  S. 
Hotel — Scene  in  Cockpit — Sam's  remark  on  "  Consistumcy  " — Bound 
up  the  Coast — Steamer  Panama,  Capt.  Bailey — Touched  at  Mazatlan, 
Acapulco,  and  San  Diego — Arrived  at  San  Francisco — Breakfast  on 
Shore,  $3.00 — Scene  at  Happy  Valley — Opened  business  same  day 
— No  Vegetables — Scurvy — Bread  at  the  front  door  free — Large 
arrivals — Win.  Fuller  sick — Arrival  of  brig  Ann  Smith,  Capt.  Bowus 
—  Scenes  at  Post  Office — Gambling  Hells — Vigilant  Committee — Cur 
tain  lifted — No  Females — No  time  to  lose — Store  corner  Sansom 
and  Jackson  ats.,  rent  $32,500— Butter  $1.00  a  pound— Moved  to 
Stockton — Safe  Deposit — Vigilant  Committee — A  Woman  arrived — 
Warned  by  the  Committee  to  leave — Scaffold  and  four  graves  at  its 
foot — Sick — •'  Vamoosed  the  Ranch  " — Nice  trip  down  the  Coast — 
Arrived  safe  at  home — Account  Current — Pope's  Essay  on  Gold 
Hunting. 


84  CALIFORNIA    IN    1  849. 


THE  author  having  fitted  out  his  two  sons,  Henry 
and  Charles,  for  California,  they  left  New  York  by 
steamer  "  Crescent  City,"  December  23d,  1848;  crossed 
the  Isthmus  to  Panama,  from  which  place  they  reported 
themselves  as  waiting  conveyance  to  San  Francisco. 
After  considerable  delay  they  took  passage  in  a  small 
craft,  unseaworthy  and  with  miserable  accommodations ; 
suffered  many  privations,  and  through  many  risks  at  last 
arrived  at  San  Francisco,  and  went  immediately  to  the 
mines.  Much  anxiety  was  felt  for  their  fate,  and  on  the 
eve  of  my  departure  to  look  after  them,  we  had  advices 
as  above,  but  not  stating  their  destination  from  San  Fran 
cisco.  I  selected  150  kegs  (15,000  Ibs.)  choice  butter; 
put  in  brine,  placed  each  keg  in  another  package,  filled 
that  also  with  brine,  made  up  an  invoice  of  other  goods, 
shipped  them  by  ship  Orpheus  from  New  York,  con 
signed  to  myself.  Among  the  goods  were  an  old  iron 
safe,  of  no  particular  value  here,  but,  as  will  appear,  of 
great  value  in  California.  It  was  about  three  feet 
square,  no  obstructions  inside,  with  lid  on  top.  Consid 
erable  many  passengers  went  in  the  Orpheus  round  Cape 
Horn  from  New  Haven — for  which  vessel  I  was  the 
agent  at  that  place.  Your  humble  servant  left  New 
York  by  steamer  Crescent  City  for  Chagres,  Sept.  15th, 
1849,  with  a  great  crowd  of  gold-seekers,  a  singular 
compound  of  men,  and  but  five  women — in  which  both 
ladies  and  gentlemen  were  extremelyjscarce.  If  I  touch 
any  person's  toes  in  this  broad  remark,  you  are  at  lib 
erty  to  class  me  as  you  choose,  though  I  think  you  can 
not  deny  the  truth  of  my  assertion,  if  you  were  one  of 
the  500  passengers  on  that  trip.  Gambling,  rum  and 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  85 

oaths  were  the  circulating  medium  the  whole  trip,  morn 
ing,  noon  and  night.  Gold  was  the  absorbing  topic  of 
conversation.  The  day  previous  to  our  sighting  the  isl 
and  of  Cuba,  where  we  were  to  touch  for  mails,  one  of 
the  number  was  brought  on  deck,  laid  on  a  board  in  the 
waist  of  the  ship  near  the  quarter  boat,  with  a  view  to 
burial.  One  of  the  passengers,  with  a  cigar  in  his 
mouth,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  corpse,  prayer  book  in 
hand,  the  body,  except  the  head,  was  placed  in  a  piece 
of  old  canvas,  having  about  100  Ibs.  of  coal  at  the  feet ; 
the  skipper  touched  the  engineer  for  a  slow,  the  board 
was  pointed  about  forty-five  degrees  depression  from  the 
ship's  rail,  the  man  of  the  prayer  book  took  his  cigar 
from  his  mouth,  and  held  it  by  the  thumb  and  fore  finger, 
read  a  few  short  sentences,  the  national  colors  were 
already  up  "  to  truck"  and  had  been  since  8  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  the  ship  not  yet  lost  her  steerage  way, 
when  the  man  with  the  book  cried  out :  "  Launcho ! !" 
and  the  body  slid  from  the  board,  a  few  bubbles 
remained  on  the  surface  a  moment,  and  the  ship  was  on 
her  course  again.  No  notice  was  given  of  the  intended 
ceremonies;  the  colors  gave  no  evidence  of  sympathy; 
the  ship  did  not  lose  her  "  way ;"  no  notice  was  given 
about  the  ship,  nor  were  the  gambling  parties  in  any 
way  disturbed,  and  I  asked  myself:  "  If  such  scenes  are 
enacted  on  the  Atlantic,  what  shall  we  witness  on  the 
Pacific  ?" 

We  touched  at  Havana,  exchanged  mails,  and  in  due 
time  arrived  at  Chagres,  a  low,  miserable  town,  of 
thirty  thatched  huts,  and  the  passengers  got  on  shore  as 
best  they  could,  in  miserable  shore  canoes,  under  an  old 
roll  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  in  which  several  were 


86  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

swamped.  Chagres  at  this  time  was  poorly  prepared  for 
the  immense  emigration,  and  with  half  the  canoes 
required  to  transport  them  up  to  Crusus.  No  eating 
houses  or  saloons,  in  an  extremely  low  latitude,  and  every 
one  who  had  not  gambled  away  his  money  and  ticket 
for  up  the  coast,  anxious  to  get  away  from  the  misera 
ble  hole.  Our  little  party  of  four  having  had  some  expe 
rience  in  roughing,  concluded  a  bargain  with  two 
brawny  natives  to  pole  us  through  to  Crusus,  took  them 
before  their  alcalde  (justice),  paid  the  bill,  conditioned 
that  they  should  lose  no  time  on  the  way,  they  to  feed 
themselves,  four  hours  per  twenty-four  given  for  rest, 
and  forfeit  a  flogging  if  they  did  not  perform.  A  wise 
and  good  arrangement,  as  it  proved,  for  the  rascals 
mutinied  on  us  the  next  morning,  and  refused  to  go  for 
ward  unless  we  gave  them  food.  We  remonstrated, 
took  possession  of  the  craft  ourselves,  shoved  her  off 
shore,  held  by  a  pole  well  down  in  the  mud,  and  waited 
events.  Four  Yankees,  with  each  a  pistol,  on  even 
ground,  against  two  natives,  stark  naked,  was  considera 
ble  odds  in  our  favor,  and  we  intended  to  keep  it.  Soon 
a  passing  canoe,  with  a  single  native,  came  drifting 
down,  to  whom  we  beckoned.  He  was  a  mongrel,  and 
carried  quite  a  jolly  countenance,  and  a  native  of  Crusus, 
with  a  spattering  of  mixed  Congo  and  English.  We 
stated  our  complaint  against  the  mutineers,  referred  him 
to  them,  and  on  hearing  their  story  he  decided  against 
them,  and  yet  they  refused  to  go.  By  this  time  our 
patience  became  exhausted,  when  Captain  Henry  Thomp 
son,  of  East  Haven,  took  his  revolver  from  under  his 
shirt,  we  cast  off  the  line,  and  our  friend  Thompson  gave 
it  to  them  in  tall  Spanish,  with  a  pistol  pointed  sharp  at 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  87 

the  leader;  but  they  gave  in,  and  at  it  they  went.  At 
the  next  village  we  called  down  their  alcalde,  made 
our  complaint  and  our  fears  of  another  outbreak;  he 
heard  their  story,  and  if  ever  a  native  of  the  Isthmus  got 
"Jesse,"  these  men  took  it  in  double  doses.  We  found  this 
alcalde's  supervision  worked  to  a  charm,  for  the  "  crit 
ters"  behaved  themselves  the  rest  of  the  voyage.  On 
we  went  in  our  little  dug-out,  difficulties  all  adjusted, 
cramped  up  in  sitting  posture,  with  an  occasional  land 
ing  to  boil  coffee,  of  which  we  gave  the  mutineers  all 
they  wranted — and  thus  in  all  we  occupied  three  days 
and  nights,  amid  the  rain,  shine  and  heat  of  this  extreme 
latitude.  The  natives,  with  their  songs  and  hoots,  as 
they  approached  the  villages,  and  the  answers  returned 
gave  them  good  cheer.  During  the  day  the  scenery 
was  truly  delightful.  Parrots  of  various  kinds,  and  par 
oquets,  with  their  constant  chattering  in  their  flight 
across  the  river,  monkeys  occasionally  in  the  trees,  of  all 
sizes,  only  of  one  kind;  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to 
see  a  mother  and  her  young  huddled  together  apparently 
in  fright  at  the  encroachments  of  the  gold-hunters,  and 
instead  of  fleeing  from  danger,  would  climb  a  tree  on  the 
river  bank,  within  shooting  distance,  and  scold  at  the 
passer-by.  Immense  quantities  of  flowers  on  the  edp;e  of 
the  river,  the  great  lazy  alligator  would  occasionally 
slide  off  the  bank,  and  a  world  of  smaller  sizes  on  sticks 
and  stones,  were  really  frightful.  The  Chagres  Uiver 
appeared  to  be  full  of  these  venomous  creatures. 

On  my  trip  down  this  river  there  were  perhaps  100 
canoes  in  requisition  for  passengers,  many  of  whom  not 
desiring  to  arrive  in  Chagres  before  daybreak,  hauled  up 
at  a  village  three  miles  above.  We  came  down  late,  and 


88  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

lay  on  the  outside  the  fleet,  made  fast,  and  lay  down  for 
sleep.  The  moon  was  up,  with  a  clear  sky.  I  was 
awakened  several  times  by  a  swash  at  the  side  of  the 
canoe,  and  I  raised  up,  stretched  out  my  head,  command 
ing  a  view  of  the  swell  of  the  canoe,  the  rays  of  the 
moon  showing  young  alligators,  their  hind  parts  in  the 
water  the  whole  length  of  the  canoe,  and  the  surface  of 
the  water  was  teeming  with  them ;  I  was  quiet  for  five 
minutes,  when  giving  the  canoe  a  sudden  roll,  they  all 
returned  to  their  native  element.  But  my  sleep  for  the 
night  was  minus,  and  I  rejoiced  that  to-morrow  I  should 
be  well  out  of  sight  if  not  mind  of  the  Chagres  River — 
its  loathsome  atmosphere  and  venomous  reptiles.  But  I 
was  doomed  to  witness  a  more  vivid  scene  in  the  morn 
ing.  We  moved  opposite  on  the  river  to  make  up  our 
morning's  meal.  I  was  the  first  ashore.  Fronting  me 
appeared  a  little  alcove,  having  a  beautiful  grass  plot  of 
five  rods  square,  nicely  shaded  with  vines  and  shrubs, 
but  literally  alive  with  snakes,  lizards  and  guanas.  It 
appeared  to  me  that  I  stood  before  a  moving  panorama 
of  reptiles.  1  was  nearly  paralyzed  at  the  sight.  The 
snakes  were  of  various  sizes  and  color,  and  some  ten  feet 
long.  They  made  as  sudden  a  retreat  as  I  did.  The 
lizards  covering  bushes  and  shrubs,  would  retreat  only 
as  I  advanced  ;  in  size  from  five  to  twelve  inches,  striped, 
brown,  yellow,  and  red.  My  blood  apparently  ceased  to 
flow,  and  it  required  some  effort  to  rouse  myself,  and 
once  in  the  canoe,  I  never  left  her  till  alongside  the 
steamer  for  New  York.  I  have  ever  since  pondered  in 
my  mind,  why  this  great  convention  of  reptiles?  why 
should  the  "  boa"  congregate  with  the  little  lizard  ?  or 
the  poisonous  rattle  with  the  guana  ?  and  I  have  never 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  89 

satisfactorily  solved  these  questions.  Could  it  be  that 
the  gathering  was  to  consider  the  recent  encroachments 
of  the  gold-seekers,  where  perhaps  six  months  before  the 
first  human  footstep  touched  that  soil?  Our  readers 
must  remember  that  the  Chagres  River  has  been  used 
thousands  of  years  for  the  transport  of  treasure,  and  sel 
dom  for  a  passenger,  until  the  rush  for  California. 

Crusus  is  the  only  place  on  this  river  giving  evidence 
of  antiquity  or  civilization ;  the  arrangements  for  the 
transportation  of  treasure  over  the  mountains  to  Crusus 
and  thence  by  canoe  to  ship  at  Chagres.  Panama  has 
been  the  receiving  warehouse  for  treasure  ages  ago,  yes, 
a  thousand  years  or  more  before  gold  was  discovered  in 
California,  by  the  American  people.  It  did  not  require 
an  army  of  soldiers  to  convoy  it  in  its  transit,  any  more 
than  it  does  now.  It  was  brought  to  Panama,  con 
signed  to  old  established  houses  to  forward ;  they  sent 
it  on  the  backs  of  mules,  through  the  mountain  gorges, 
under  charge  of  a  leading  muleteer,  to  Crusus,  with  his 
half-dozen  drivers ;  there  transferred  to  canoes,  with  but 
one  man  in  each  to  paddle  it  down  to  ship,  but  in  1848 
a  warehouse  was  built  at  Chagres,  and  now  an  agent  is 
kept  there  to  transship.  Formerly  it  was  kept  in  Pan 
ama,  till  notice  came  of  the  ship's  readiness  to  receive  it. 
The  European  monarchs  and  money-changers  have  dur 
ing  the  palmy  days  of  the  old  city  of  Panama,  received 
treasure  through  this  channel,  and  are  yet  doing  the 
same  thing.  The  night  that  the  author  rested  at  Cru 
sus,  in  1849,  a  train  of  fifty  mules  came  in  from  Panama, 
and  unloaded  the  treasure  contained  in  wood  boxes  of 
suitable  sizes,  inclosing  a  tin  box ;  and  in  conversation 
with  the  consignee,  he  said  not  one  dollar  of  it  came 


90  CALIFORNIA    IN     1849. 

from  California,  but  it  was  from  Peru  and  other  mining 
countries,  and  that  for  ages  it  had  come  through  succes 
sive  forwarding  houses ;  he  had  done  it  all  his  days,  then 
60  years  old,  through  his  guardian  in  infancy,  and  back 
through  his  father,  and  his  father's  father  also.  We 
found  Crusus  quite  a  neat  village,  with  a  cleanly,  neat, 
and  honest  people.  Not  well  supplied  with  plum  pud 
ding  and  oyster  sauce,  but  quite  a  sufficiency  of  Mexican 
beef,  cut  in  strips,  sun-dried,  and  sold  by  the  yard. 
Monkey  and  guana  were  quite  plenty  and  palatable, 
when  a  man  is  hungry,  provided  he  does  not  see  his  toes, 
and  these  are  left  on  in  cooking,  as  evidence  of  their 
purity.  Their  coffee  is  good.  The  men  are  all  schemers 
for  money,  and  yet  are  honest.  They  carry  tremendous 
chests  and  trunks  on  their  heads,  through  the  gorges  to 
Crusus.  The  village  is  a  dance  house  from  dusk  to  mid 
night.  The  banjo  is  their  favorite  instrumental  music, 
always  accompanied  by  the  female  voice  only.  Your 
baggage  put  in  the  hands  of  the  men  at  either  Panama 
or  Crusus  for  transit,  is  as  safe  as  with  the  owner.  The 
hotel  was  a  horrid  place  in  1849,  both  in  its  eating  and 
sleeping  department — the  latter,  instead  of  the  neat, 
clean  South  American  hammock,  consisted  of  bunks,  full 
of  vermin.  Any  person  who  should  happen  to  require  a 
lodging,  could,  if  of  cleanly  appearance,  obtain  from  the 
citizens  a  neat,  cozy  hammock  swung  in  the  open  door 
way,  free  from  filth  or  vermin,  for  "  duce  rialis"  (twenty- 
five  cents),  and  see  the  dancing  free.  On  my  return 
trip  the  same  hotel  existed  under  the  same  administra 
tion,  but  experience  being  a  good  schoolmaster,  we 
respectfully  declined,  and  found  better  sleeping,  without 
the  accompanying  torture  of  vermin. 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  91 

But  let  us  return  to  our  departure  from  Crusus  to 
Panama,  through  the  gorges,  for  the  mules  are  ready, 
and  as  a  body  much  resemble  the  horses  that  our  wor 
thy  citizen,  "  Sylvester,"  formerly  dealt  in,  "  none  worth 
over  ten  shillings" — one  of  which  I  sold  as  auctioneer  in 
New  Haven  for  seventy-five  cents,  having  advanced 
the  worthy  owner  two  dollars  on  it  the  day  before, 
Sylvester  was  in  the  audience ;  State  street  was  blocked 
up  by  the  people,  and  always  was  at  the  sale  of  a  horse, 
whether  good,  bad,  or  indifferent.  The  creature  sold 
after  much  effort,  for  seventy-five  cents,  amid  many 
cheers  and  some  hisses.  After  getting  a  quiet  audience, 
I  said :  "  Gentlemen,  this  horse  was  sold  for  account  of 
'Sylvester,'  under  an  advance  of  two  dollars;  please 
help  me  make  up  the  account  sales,  for  it  seems  to  be  on 
the  wrong  side  of  Daboll."  One  of  the  audience  as  sud 
denly  as  a  clap  of  thunder,  cried  out:  "Gentlemen,  I 
propose  that  the  auctioneer  pay  '  Sylvester'  the  seventy- 
five  cents,  and  guarantee  the  purchaser  that  the  '  old 
rip'  lives  till  he  arrives  at  his  stable,  giving  him  twenty 
minutes  lee  way.  Are  you  ready  for  the  question  ? 
Those  in  favor  will  say  aye"— when  the  whole  street 
responded  in  the  affirmative,  and  your  humble  servant 
did  as  requested,  paid  the  seventy-five  cents,  and  bar 
gained  with  the  purchaser  that  he  should  have  the  ani 
mal  without  pay,  if  he  would  get  him  out  of  the  street 
in  two  minutes.  Well,  these  mules,  financially,  were 
like  "  Sylvester's"  horses  at  New  Haven — only  that  the 
Crusus  mules  were  immediately  absorbed,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  demand  far  exceeded  the  supply.  Cur 
rent  price  ten  dollars  for  the  ride  to  Panama — no  reclam 
ation  on  either  side  if  he  died  on  the  journey.  Acting 


92  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

on  a  hint  given  by  a  railroad  official,  then  surveying  the 
route  for  the  Panama  road,  I  rested  for  the  crowd  to 
mount,  when  he  turned  to  a  native,  told  him  my  wants, 
and  to  bring  up  his  "  Americanus,"  a  large,  beautiful 
animal,  with  a  splendid  Mexican  outrig,  for  which  I 
gladly  paid  him  fifteen  dollars,  thanked  my  friend  for  his 
kindness,  and  after  receiving  instructions  for  the  mule's 
care  in  Panama,  I  started  with  perfect  assurance  of  my 
safety  on  the  trip — I  covered  the  rear  of  the  great  cav 
alcade,  passed  a  dozen  mules  on  the  balk,  and  some 
floundering  in  mud  holes.  At  the  entrance  of  the  first 
gorge  in  the  mountain,  about  a  mile  from  the  hotel,  I 
found  several  animals  that  refused  to  enter,  while  Amer 
icanus  stepped  square  up  to  the  wrork,  entered  the  gorge 
en  miltair,  left  foot  first,  and  never  stumbled  through 
the  route.  These  passages  through  the  gorges  are  only 
of  sufficient  width  for  a  pack  animal,  and  on  entering 
them  from  either  end,  a  signal  of  a  loud  whistle  or  hoot 
of  the  man  in  charge  of  the  train  is  given,  and  answered 
by  the  other,  and  the  party  omitting  to  give  this  notice, 
if  met  in  the  gorge,  must  back  out.  The  reader  will 
understand  that  these  gorges  are  more  or  less  circuitous, 
quite  uneven,  varying  in  height  from  eight  to  twenty 
feet,  ascending  and  descending  with  foot  marks  made  by 
the  animals  from  three  to  six  inches  deep,  depending  on 
the  hardness  of  the  rock,  and  evidently  this  rough  and 
uncouth  road  has  been  used  for  many  ages.  The  soil 
between  these  gorges  is  extremely  muddy  in  the  season 
of  rain,  and  it  is  in  these  places  where  we  realize  the 
value  of  an  able  mule.  Many  of  the  poor  animals  here 
flounder  and  die ;  the  riders  must  then  foot  it  to  Pan 
ama.  "  Americanus,"  with  the  reins  untouched,  would 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  93 

pick  his  way  through  the  mud,  always  enter  a  gorge  left 
foot  first,  would  make  no  halts  but  for  water  and  grass, 
and  in  good  heart  carried  me  through  to  Panama  and  of 
his  own  accord,  landed  me  at  the  United  States  Hotel, 
just  at  sunset,  where  I  sat  by  his  side,  gave  him  bread 
and  grass  to  his  heart's  content,  and  with  a  good  rub 
bing  down,  kissed  his  homely  face,  bid  him  good-bye, 
and,  as  ordered  in  Crusus,  turned  him  adrift  to  find  his 
regular  quarters  in  Panama.  No  animal  without  a 
muleteer  is  allowed  to  enter  a  gorge.  They  find  a  home 
at  both  ends  of  the  route. 

I  turned  to  the  hotel  for  my  own  quarters.  The  peo 
ple  continued  to  arrive  till  midnight — some  on  foot, 
weary,  wet,  and  drunken.  I  consider  that  my  invest 
ment  of  fifteen  dollars  was  one  of  the  best  I  ever  made. 
Long  live  "  Americanus."  One  incident  that  occurred 
in  Panama  worth  relating,  and  we  will  "  up  the  coast," 
where  it  seems  as  if  all  the  world  were  bound.  It  was 
Sunday;  while  sitting  at  the  hotel  I  noticed  a  church  edi 
fice  directly  opposite,  on  the  steps  of  which  was  a  col 
ored  boy  with  a  splendid  large  Spanish  game  cock,  to 
which  he  was  fastening  a  pair  of  fine  pointed  gaifs.  On 
inquiry  of  our  landlord,  I  found  the  animal  and  boy  were 
the  property  of  the  priest  then  officiating  at  the  altar 
inside  the  church,  and  at  12  o'clock  the  services  would 
close,  and  a  grand  fight  would  come  off  at  the  cockpit, 
six  doors  below,  in  which  the  priest  would  be  "  chief 
cook  and  bottle-washer" — seats  free.  At  the  time 
appointed  I  covered  the  rear  of  the  procession,  the  boy, 
the  game  cock,  and  his  reverence  at  the  head,  and 
entered  the  cock  pit,  under  cover  and  in  form  like  an 
ampitheater.  About  300  persons  were  present,  under  no 


94  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

order  or  control,  everybody  had  tlieir  say,  and  on  the 
whole  "a  scene  of  confusion  worse  confounded,"  bedlam 
let  loose,  and  in  which  his  reverence  was  as  active  and 
noisy  as  the  rest.  The  only  rule  (said  my  interpreter), 
which  they  agree  to  enforce,  is,  "  that  no  person  shall 
enter  the  pit  during  a  fight."  Money  passed  to  the  per 
son  in  the  rostrum  quite  freely,  but  the  chatter  and 
swearing  continued  without  any  intermission,  and  finally 
a  pair  of  fowls  were  let  in  through  the  trap  doors,  each 
with  steel  gaffs  on,  and  without  any  ceremony,  at  it  they 
went — result,  one  dead,  the  other  bleeding  from  the 
neck — several  matches  were  made  and  closed — but  your 
humble  servant  had  no  relish  for  such  cruel  scenes,  but 
was  much  more  interested  with  the  audience,  for  by  this 
time  they  were  so  clamorous  that  a  field  fight  was  in 
prospect,  several  clenches  occurred,  but  results  were  not 
as  plainly  visible  as  in  the  case  of  the  feathered  tribe,  for 
I  soon  found  they  were  all  great  cowards,  and  made 
more  "fuss  than  feathers."  These  men  were  all  well 
dressed  in  white,  the  rig  consisted  mostly  of  slippers, 
white  half-hose,  linen  pants  and  shirts,  with  a  light  straw 
hat;  every  one  of  them  as  clean  as  if  just  out  of  a  band 
box  or  laundry ;  but  they  wrere  an  excitable,  nervous, 
boyish  race — natural  born  cock-fighters  and  gamblers, 
all  smoking  splendid  cigars,  but  what  they  lacked  in 
fighting,  they  made  up  in  confused  ranting.  But  to 
close.  His  reverence  was  now  getting  up  his  match ;  he 
was  plump  six  feet  tall,  of  a  sharp  visage,  dressed  in 
black  bombazine  mantle,  and  black  chapeau,  black  silk 
hose,  and  tight  serge  gaiters,  and  if  never  active  before, 
was  now  truly  "the  biggest  toad  in  the  puddle,"  made 
the  most  noise,  and  swore  more  than  any  other  man  in 


CALIFORNIA    IN"    1849.  95 

the  party.  The  two  birds  were  let  into  the  arena,  amid 
continuous  shouts  and  screams  enough  to  frighten  the 
evil  one  himself,  if  not  the  two  roosters.  As  before 
stated,  I  was  intent  on  the  audience  not  in  the  pit,  until 
the  first  slash,  I  saw  the  "  dominie"  jump  into  the  pit  for 
his  bird,  but  it  was  too  late,  his  throat  was  cut  clean 
open, — he  looked  the  picture  of  despair,  took  his  dead 
bird  and  boy  and  walked  away,  minus,  as  my  interpreter 
said,  sixteen  doubloons,  and  I  trust  a  wiser  and  a  better 
man,  though  the  next  Sunday  he  was  burning  incense  at 
the  altar  of  the  same  church.  I  seated  myself  on  the 
shady  verandah  of  my  hotel,  and  remembered  an  expres 
sion  of  my  good  old  cook,  Sam  Chase,  when  standing  at 
the  door  of  a  dance  house  at  Malaga,  Spain,  where  rum 
flowed  freely,  and  the  priests  drank  and  danced  till 
drunk,  he  exclaimed :  "  Gorra  mighty,  Massa  Charley, 
what  kind  of  consistumcy  is  dis  ?" 

The  steamer  Panama  was  ready,  her  passengers  got 
on  board  as  best  they  could,  and  we  left  for  San  Fran 
cisco,  or  rather,  those  of  us  who  had  not  sold  or  gam 
bled  away  our  money  or  tickets.  The  ship  was  cleanly 
and  under  good  discipline  and  command  of  Captain  Bai 
ley,  whose  orders  were  to  touch  off  and  on  at  Mazatlan, 
at  Acapulco  for  coal,  and  San  Diego  for  passengers,  and 
then  for  San  Francisco,  but  to  use  up  twenty-one  days 
on  the  passage.  Nothing  of  interest  occurred  during 
the  passage,  and  we  arrived  the  twenty-first  day,  all 
well.  I  landed  next  morning,  foot  of  Jackson  street, 
and  entered  an  eating  room  on  Montgomery,  ordered 
cup  of  coffee,  two  eggs,  and  beef  steak,  no  butter,  paid 
$2.50,  and  consoled  myself  that  I  had  15,000  pounds  of 
choice  butter  in  the  ship  Orpheus,  which  somebody 


96  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

would  be  obliged  to  pay  one  dollar  a  pound  for.  I  step 
ped  out  on  the  street — everything  was  in  a  crude  state ; 
I  spent  a  portion  of  the  day  in  the  examination  of  San 
Francisco  as  it  then  was.  At  Happy  Valley  I  found 
about  200  people,  "  squatters,"  some  in  tents,  some  in 
crockery  hogsheads  and  dry-goods  boxes,  as  their  shel 
ter.  It  was  sufficient  for  their  purpose,  if  the  head  was 
protected  from  the  storm,  while  their  legs  were  left  out. 
What  better  could  they  do  ?  A  few  buildings  on  the 
Plaza  had  been  roughly  thrown  together.  One  public 
house,  one  old  "  adobe"  shanty,  the  rest  used  as  gam 
bling  houses.  Lumber,  if  to  be  found,  was  worth  $1 ,000 
per  one  thousand  feet.  All  vessels  arriving  were  boarded 
for  this  necessary  article.  Cotton  goods  and  tacks  were 
wanted  for  tents,  as  a  substitute,  the  latter  two  dollars  a 
paper:  Long  boots  were  in  great  demand  at  fifty  dol 
lars  ;  bread,  pork  and  nails  were  plenty  ;  molasses,  none  ; 
sugar,  any  price  demanded  ;  Mexican  beef  and  salmon 
plenty  ;  flour,  forty  dollars.  People  constantly  arriving 
by  vessels,  and  streets  quite  lively.  Well,  the  day  was 
far  spent,  and  it  was  time  for  me  to  make  a  dive  for  a 
shelter.  A  plain  board  shanty  was  being  erected  on  the 
corner  of  Montgomery  and  a  street  leading  to  the  Plaza. 
The  roof  was  on,  but  no  partitions.  I  bargained  for  ten 
feet  square  on  first  floor  for  150  dollars  per  month,  to  be 
put  in  order,  and  I  put  in  possession  in  one  hour,  for 
which  I  paid  the  gold,  and  it  was  quite  amusing  to 
notice  the  way  that  nails  were  crowded  into  boards. 
Everything  in  the  carpenter  line  was  "  by  the  job" — and 
true  to  the  bargain,  my  shelter  was  finished,  and  at  dusk 
I  rolled  into  my  bunk,  a  blanket  for  a  bed,  and  slept  as 
soundly  as  a  king  till  morning.  "  Cash  paid  for  every- 


CALIFORNIA    IX    1849.  97 

thing,"  was  my  chalk  sign,  and  by  8  o'clock  A.  M.  I  was 
an  old  resident,  ready  for  business.  Vessels  were  con 
stantly  arriving,  and  from  them  we  gleaned  m-any  arti 
cles,  never  questioning  price.  The  cry  was,  goods ! 
goods  !  !  from  every  quarter.  "  Big-sized  boots"  were 
my  favorites.  I  found  three  cases,  and  before  night  all 
sold  at  fifty  dollars  a  pair.  Anything  portable  was 
what  I  aimed  at,  because  ten  feet  square  could  not  hold 
much  coarse  staples.  Tacks  for  tents  were  another  favor 
ite,  and  every  vessel  would  spare  a  few.  The  simple 
rule  in  merchandising  was,  pay  the  price  named,  and 
ask  what  you  choose.  The  influx  of  people  was  a  curi 
osity,  many  of  whom  were  dumped  ashore  from  vessels 
without  money  or  food.  Pilot  bread  in  large  quantities 
had  fortunately  been  shipped  from  Boston,  and  this  gave 
some  relief,  but  vegetables  were  out  of  the  question- 
The  want  of  these  necessities  caused  much  sickness. 
Scurvy  and  diarrhoaa  were  the  universal  complaints ; 
every  potato  and  onion  that  ships  would  part  with  was 
hoarded  up  for  the  sick ;  no  sound  man  could  obtain  one 
for  his  own  eating.  A  cask  of  bread  and  barrel  of  pork 
stood  at  the  door  of  every  merchant,  free  to  the 
sick. 

The  miners  began  to  arrive  from  the  mines  to  recruit. 
They  had  gold  and  scurvy  both — the  former  worthless, 
without  a  potato  or  an  onion.  These  two  articles  were 
the  only  antidote  for  their  complaint,  and  it  was  amus 
ing  to  see  with  what  avidity  they  would  scrape  them 
with  a  knife,  costing  half  their  weight  in  gold.  This 
state  of  things  was  soon  remedied  by  the  arrival  of  ves 
sels  from  Chili ;  but  for  six  months  these  articles  sold  for 
one  dollar  the  pound.  With  onions  or  potatoes  raw,  the 
7 


98  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

worst  case  of  scurvy  could  be  cured  in  ten  days.  But 
1  must  not  give  the  reader  much  more  of  this  melan 
choly  picture. 

It  was  calculated  that  the  increase  of  population  in 
San  Francisco  was  over  1,500  persons  average  per  day 
from  February  1st  to  June  1st,  1850,  and  that  over  400 
vessels  of  various  nations  and  sizes,  in  May,  were  at 
anchor  in  the  bay,  deserted  by  their  crews,  but  gener 
ally  with  a  single  ship-keeper  on  board.  Had  there  been 
a  sufficiency  of  lumber  and  carpenters  in  the  market  we 
could  with  truth  say,  "  A  city  could  be  built  in  a  day." 
But  trade  went  on  swimmingly,  and  with  good  margins. 

I  was  comfortably  surprised  one  morning  to  welcome 
my  old  neighbor,  Wm.  Fuller,  Esq.,  having  arrived  from 
Sacramento  to  recruit,  and  bringing  me  news  from  my 
two  sons,  who  were  then  with  his  friends  on  the  "  Amer 
ican  fork" — and  in  my  little  quarters  of  ten  feet  square 
he  was  made  as  comfortable  in  his  severe  sickness,  and 
during  the  season  of  rains,  as  we  could  control.  His  was 
the  chronic  diarrhoea,  caused  by  exposure  in  the  Sacra 
mento  salmon  fishing.  Friend  Fuller  will  tell  you  of  his 
narrow  escape  and  suffering,  but  now  hale  and  hearty, 
dealing  largely  piscatorially  on  Long  Wharf,  New 
Haven,  Ct.  It  was  evident  that  Mr.  F.  was  not  improv 
ing  in  health  with  the  crude  accommodations  under  my 
roof%  and  the  constant  chilly  rains  of  the  season,  and  I 
solicited  Captain  William  Bowns,  then  lying  at  anchor 
in  the  bay,  to  take  Mr.  F.  on  board  his  vessel,  being  san 
guine  that  it  would  save  his  life,  and  the  writer  is  happy 
to  place  on  record  the  hearty  response  received  from  the 
Captain,  who  immediately  welcomed  him  on  board,  gave 
him  every  attention  and  care,  under  which  Mr.  Fuller 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  99 

immediately  began  to  mend,  and  in  three  weeks  went  on 
his  way  rejoicing,  a  well  man. 

I  purchased  the  cargo  of  Captain  Bowns,  and  paid 
the  bill  in  full ;  never  had  a  dispute  with  him  with  regard 
to  reclamations  for  shorts  or  damage,  but  found  him  to 
be  the  same  noble-hearted  man  as  in  boyhood,  a  kind, 
generous  play  and  schoolmate  of  mine  all  my  younger 
days,  from  three  years  old,  and  with  whom  the  writer 
enjoyed  many  a  "  piscatorial"  excursion  in  middle  life. 
All  our  intercourse  at  San  Francisco  was  genial,  pleas 
ant  and  friendly,  and  I  challenge  the  world  to  find  one 
who  more  keenly  mourned  his  decease  than  I  did,  not 
excepting  his  wife.  It  is  said  that  "  murder  will  out  in 
time,"  and  this  is  a  good  opportunity  to  prove  the  appli 
cation  of  the  old  adage.  After  the  decease  of  Captain 
William  Bowns,  the  author  was  considerably  annoyed 
by  reports  emanating  from  one  who  stood  high  in  the 
family  of  the  Captain,  that  ":she  was  made  poor  by  rea 
son  of  C.  F.  Hotchkiss  having  CHEATED  the  Captain  out 
of  the  cargo  sold  him  in  San  Francisco." 

Remarks. — The  only  cargo  bought  by  the  writer  of 
Captain  Bowns  was  that  alluded  to  above,  and  for  the 
payment  of  which  I  hold  a  receipt  in  full,  and,  further 
more,  I  respectfully  refer  my  friends  or  enemies,  who 
swallowed  and  repeated  the  unqualified  lie  to  my  injury, 
to  Charles  Peterson,  Esq.,  President  of  the  New  Haven 
Security  Insurance  Company,  the  owner  of  said  vessel 
and  cargo,  who  will  tell  you  that  the  good  Captain  did 
not  own  a  penny  of  the  cargo,  nor  did  he  in  the  settlement 
of  that  voyage  report  any  balance  due  from  your  humble 
servant.  My  quarters  in  my  little  office  on  Montgomery 
street  were  too  strait,  and  I  rented  a  two  story  building 


100  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

in  course  of  erection,  located  on  the  flats,  foot  of  Jackson 
street,  sixty  feet  square,  the  lower  floor  for  goods,  three 
doors  opening  to  the  sea,  a  dock,,  on  the  south  side  for 
landing  goods  and  passengers.  The  upper  story  was 
converted  to  bunks,  three  tiers  high,  making  about  100 
bunks.  The  approach  to  the  city  was  by  a  bridge.  It 
was  the  first  building  erected  below  Montgomery  street, 
and  its  rent  was  32,500  dollars  per  year,  payable 
monthly  in  advance,  privileged  to  vacate  in  four  months. 
Here  we  had  a  good,  roomy  place  for  goods.  Lodgings 
one  dollar  each  person,  they  finding  bedding.  I  boarded 
many  friends,  lodged  many  strangers,  making  it  a  rule 
never  to  turn  the  poor  away.  Vessels  continued  to 
arrive.  Lumber  fell  to  500  dollars  per  thousand  ;  build 
ings  rose  in  every  direction  like  magic.  Men  off  a  long 
voyage  were  dumped  ashore  like  cattle,  at  least  100 
miles  from  the  mines,  and  passage  to  Stockton  or  Sacra 
mento  twenty-five  dollars.  Stout  hearts  quailed, — the 
robust  and  the  strong  were  the  first  to  succumb.  My 
store,  without  rum  (thank  God),  was  the  great  thorough 
fare  for  the  living  and  the  dead.  It  was  difficult  to  tell 
whether  less  or  more  of  the  sick  came  from  the  mines  or 
landed  from  vessels.  Scurvy  from  the  mines  and  ship 
fever  from  the  vessels. 

Our  only  law  was  a  Vigilance  Committee — they  not 
considering  the  dead  and  dying  as  coming  within  their 
jurisdiction.  Gold,  gold,  gold,  could  well  be  the  epi 
taph  of  thousands.  Thus  far  for  the  dark  side,  not  half 
told.  The  bright  side  to  me  was  the  arrival  of  my  two 
sons — both  sick — but  vegetables  were  getting  plenty, 
and  with  the  care  and  council  of  Doctor  Beers,  formerly 
of  New  Haven,  Charles,  the  youngest,  recruited  sufli- 


CALIFORNIA    IN    18"49.  l'01 

ciently,  and  by  advice  of  the  doctor  was  sent  home  in 
company  with  Mr.  W.  J.  Clark,  of  Southington,  who 
kindly  volunteered  to  care  for  him.  Henry  remained 
with  me. 

The  ship  Orpheus  arrived  safe,  and  her  invoice  paid  a 
round  margin ;  butter  on  its  arrival  was  one  dollar  per 
pound.  The  busy  scenes  of  life  began  to  tell  on  me. 
Those  strong,  cold  winds  of  San  Francisco  were  too 
much,  and  I  heeded  the  admonition,  began  to  prepare 
for  a  removal  to  Stockton,  but  before  I  go  let  me 
describe  the  scenes  on  the  Plaza,  Post  office  first — 
every  day  a  string  of  people  three  deep,  twenty  rods 
long,  waiting  a  chance  at  the  delivery.  Two  days  often 
passed  before  the  party  at  the  rear  could  get  a  chance  at 
the  window ;  many  times  have  I  seen  a  line  forming  in 
the  night,  to  insure  a  chance  next  day ;  five  dollars  was 
often  paid  for  a  chance  near  the  window,  the  party  retir 
ing  must  go  to  the  rear.  The  office  facilities  were  of 
course  imperfect.  These  men  were  mostly  miners,  and 
they  represented  all  their  friends  in  the  mines,  and  these 
were  easily  distinguished  by  a  bag  of  gold,  large  or  small, 
slung  over  the  neck,  the  bag  resting  in  their  bosom. 
The  newly  arrived  generally  had  on  a  good  shirt,  but 
the  others  more  likely  no  shirt  at  all,  an  unshaven,  care 
worn,  hard-looking  set  of  men,  of  all  countries,  nations, 
and  tongues.  Some  good  natured.  some  ugly  looking, 
and  an  occasional  tall,  lank,  gray-eyed  Vermonter,  and 
down  to  the  poor  Chilian,  half-naked.  At  the  side  of 
this  string  could  be  seen  500  to  1,000  new-comers,  seek 
ing  information  of  the  mines  and  how  to  get  there,  and 
an  occasional  recognition  of  friends  would  take  place. 
Then  those  who  had  passed  the  rubicon  were  scattered 


102  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

in  all  directions,  reading  letters  from  "  sweet-hearts  and 
wives."  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Plaza  were  the- 
gambling  hells,  in  full  blast,  with  piles  of  gold,  which 
the  uninitiated  would  buck  against  in  vain. 

These  scenes,  mixed  with  the  hundreds  in  the  streets 
of  poor,  sickly  and  emaciated  men  with  scurvy  and 
diarrhoea,  more  like  moving  ghosts,  was  sufficient  to 
make  one  cry  out,  "  All  for  gold."  Yes,  all  this  and 
more,  and  yet  not  a  female  to  be  seen,  except,  perhaps? 
an  occasional  Digger  squaw.  This  was  the  panorama  of 
the  winter  of  1850  and  spring  of  '51.  Oh  !  what  degra" 
elation  for  gold ! 

But  let  us  look  around  near  the  corner  of  the  Plaza, 
where  the  national  colors  are  flying,  and  where  the  Vig 
ilance  Committee,  in  the  absence  of  all  statute  or  territo 
rial  law,  take  in  hand  the  administration  of  justice,  and 
where  it  swiftly  followed  arrests.  Nothing  else  would 
seem  to  answer  the  purpose,  for  if  they  were  without 
organization,  our  lives  would  not  be  worth  a  brass  farth 
ing.  No  crowd  of  anxious  information-seekers  or  curi 
osity-hunters  are  ever  seen  in  that  room,  though  the 
national  emblem  tails  to  the  breeze  night  and  day.  It 
is  empty  now,  but  perhaps  in  half  an  hour  a  private 
duplicate  key  will  admit  eight  men  of  business  with  a 
tiler,  but  there  will  be  no  formal  crier  to  open  the  court. 
The  gavel  strikes  the  table,  and  the  prisoner  is  brought 
in  from  a  side  door,  the  witnesses  confront  him ;  there  is- 
no  sick  juror  to  wait  for,  the  judges  are  business  menr 
there  are  no  pettifoggers  to  worry  the  judge  ;  time  is 
precious  in  San  Francisco  now ;  men  have  immense 
rents  to  pay ;  they  move  quick ;  there  is  no  superfluity 
of  words ;  jurors  cannot  be  bribed  nor  witnesses  befog- 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  103 

ged.  The  story  is  told,  and  it  is  told  to  honest  men — 
men  without  a  salary — men  who  are  sick  of  the  intrica- 
.cies  of  law,  and  men  who  will  administer  justice,  though 
the  heavens  were  on  fire.  "  What  is  your  opinion,  gen 
tlemen  ?"  The  answer  comes  by  signs.  "  The  prisoner 
is  guilty."  There  is  no  long  roll  of  talk  from  the  bench, 
to  harrow  up  fche  soul  of  the  guilty  wretch.  He  is  told 
his  doom ;  he  is  not  (vide  the  Spanish  inquisition)  put 
to  the  rack  in  order  to  extract  information  as  to  his 
accomplices.  He  is  plainly  told  what  he  knows  to  be 
true,  "You  are  guilty  of  murder.  You  have  twenty 
minutes  to  prepare  for  death."  The  scaffold  is  in  the 
room — the  time  is  up — he  swings,  a  sharp  piece  of  steel 
enters  his  heart — the  tiler  does  his  duty,  and  the  body 
is  taken  to  "  the  hill"  in  the  evening,  where  all  the  dead 
are  buried.  The  flag  still  floats;  the  protectors  of  the 
people's  interests  have  resumed  their  business,  and  for 
the  sake  of  example,  it  may  or  may  not  be  said  that 
another  murderer  has  paid  the  penalty  of  his  crime,  but 
his  name  is  never  mentioned. 

Now,  reader,  I  have  closed  my  interest  at  San  Fran 
cisco,  which  I  found  to  be  a  very  easy  matter.  New 
comers  were  plenty,  and  away  for  Stockton.  The  cli 
mate  and  surroundings  being  much  more  congenial  to 
my  constitution  and  feelings,  but  I  shall  remember  the 
howling  morning  winds  that  with  a  cold,  dense  fog,  roll 
over  the  city  of  San  Francisco.  The  trade  of  Stockton 
is  mostly  with  muleteers,  who  run  trains  of  pack  mules 
with  supplies  for  the  miners. 

The  old  steamer  Sutter  made  regular  trips  from  San 
Francisco  three  times  a  week ;  fare  twenty-five  dollars. 
Stockton  then  had  about  1,200  inhabitants,  and  only  one 


104  CALIFORNIA    IX    1849. 

female,  except  three  poor,  degraded  Digger  squaws; 
with  five  wood  buildings,  the  other  shelter  was  tents. 
The  wood  buildings  were  occupied  for  gambling,  where 
"  monte"  was  the  favorite  game.  The  town  was  regu 
larly  laid  out,  with  a  street  leading  up  from  the  landing 
seventy  feet  wide.  Goods  were  generally  displayed  in 
front  of  the  tent  in  the  street,  exposed  to  view  and 
thieves,  during  four  months  of  the  year,  without  danger 
from  dews  or  rains.  Lots  then  occupied  on  this  street 
cost  5,000  dollars  cash.  The  old  iron  safe,  before  men 
tioned,  was  now  in  its  position,  it  being  but  the  third  in 
the  place.  It  was  a  cheap  sheet  iron  safe,  and  yet  its 
shape  was  just  suited  to  not  only  our  wants  but  also  the 
miners  and  muleteers,  each  of  whom  in  coming  from  the 
mines  would  deposit  their  bag  of  gold— the  former  to 
recruit,  and  the  latter  to  purchase  goods.  We  seemed  to 
be  the  treasury  for  the  whole  country,  and  during  the 
time  we  were  there  we  never  wreighed  or  counted  a  sin 
gle  bag,  and  never  had  a  word  of  difficulty  with  a  depos 
itor.  Not  a  bag  during  the  time  was  sealed.  It  was 
marked  with  the  owner's  name,  and  it  was  no  uncom 
mon  thing  to  have  on  hand  150  bags,  valued  at  from 
twenty  to  one  thousand  dollars  each.  We  made  no 
charge  for  deposits,  and  the  acquaintance  and  reputa 
tion  in  the  mines  brought  a  large  trade.  The  muleteers, 
with  from  five  to  thirty  pack  mules,  would  arrive  about 
noon,  the  head  mule  rode  by  the  boss,  carried  the  bag  or 
bags  of  gold  on  the  pommel  of  the  saddle,  and  if  for  a 
large  purchase,  the  assistant  on  the  rear  mule  carried 
gold  in  the  same  way.  The  train  would  halt  at  our 
tent,  the  principal  would  take  oif  the  gold,  lay  it  in  the 
safe,  hand  us  a  list  of  his  wants,  to  be  ready  to  pack  the 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  105 

second  day — not  a  word  of  price — if  the  articles  were 
not  in  the  place,  we  could  send  by  steamer  Sutter ;  in 
that  case  and  that  only,  would  he  be  satisfied  to  hold 
over.  When  all  was  ready,  the  mules  would  be  at  the 
door;  ask  for  the  bill,  take  out  his  gold  from  the  safe, 
and  weigh  out  the  sum  required,  and  away  for  the  moun 
tains.  Our  tent  was,  called  the  "  cure-all,"  for  we  aimed 
never  to  be  short  on  onions  or  potatoes.  Ours  was  also 
an  exchange  office,  and  those  returning  to  the  States 
would  exchange  dust  for  coin.  Wholly  unused  to  such 
unlimited  confidence,  I  trembled  at  the  result  at  the 
beginning,  but  in  a  fortnight's  time  became  accustomed 
so  as  to  sleep  soundly  in  my  hammock,  directly  over  the 
old  safe,  with  a  right  and  left  hand  supporter  under  my 
pillow. 

Stockton  had  its  Vigilant  Committee,  and  in  the  mid 
dle  of  the  street  on  an  elevation,  say  about  twenty  rods 
from  us,  they  had  erected  a  gallows,  and  at  its  foot  were 
four  mounds  of  fresh-made  graves.  Your  humble  ser 
vant  was,  soon  after  his  arrival,  by  request  of  the  Com 
mittee,  made  a  member  of  that  important  arm  of  the  law. 
The  jurisdiction  of  this  Committee  was  unlimited,  but  it 
generally  refused  to  act  in  cases  outside  the  township. 
Society  in  Stockton  was  a  curious  compound.  Gold  was 
the  only  god  it  worshiped  then.  The  one  white. female 
before  named,  was  a  lady  commanding  the  respect  of 
every  person  in  the  place.  The  Diggers  were  poor,  mis 
erable  brutes.  My  mule,  "  Americanus,"  that  carried 
me  over  the  mountains  to  Panama,  was  a  queen  in  com 
parison.  Men  were,  in  the  absence  of  society,  slovenly 
and  undignified,  and  we  naturally  fell  into  these  habits, 
still  (throwing  your  humble  servant  out),  they  were  gen- 


106  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

tlemen  of  integrity,  noted  for  neighborly  acts  of  kind 
ness,  and  as  prompt  as  the  hand  of  time.  There  were  no 
lazy  ones  in  the  settlement,  and  while  at  Stockton  I 
never  saw  a  person  worse  off  for  liquor,  except  the 
"  Diggers."  Notwithstanding  the  country  was  flooded 
with  genuine  Bordeaux  brandy,  in  cases,  three  cargoes 
of  which  had  been  landed  in  San  Francisco  in  1848,  at 
the  instant  the  gold  was  discovered,  the  crews  of  the 
ships  having  left  the  vessels,  and  the  whole  was  forced 
on  the  market  at  a  song's  price. 

Woman  was  a  curiosity,  as  was  evidenced  one  day 
about  8  o'clock,  when  a  great  uproar  \vas  made,  com 
mencing  at  the  landing,  and  gaining  strength  as  the 
sound  reached  us;  every  occupant  was  in  the  street,  the 
cheer  was  long,  loud,  and  strong — and  behold,  it  was  a 
woman,  backed  on  a  beautiful  horse,  richly  dressed  in  a 
long  riding  habit,  a  neat  jockey  cap,  white  feather,  face 
highly  painted,  and  she  escorted  by  a  man  well  dressed, 
also  on  a  beautiful  bay  charger.  The  men  swung  their 
hats,  and  it  was  a  universal  cheer  on  cheer.  On  the  10th 
day  after  her  majesty  and  her  pimp  went  through  this 
great  and  wonderful  ovation,  the  Vigilant  Committee, 
through  their  tiler,  served  a  notice  on  them  both  to 
leave  by  the  Sutter  next  day,  without  fail.  The  man 
date  was  obeyed,  and  they  took  ten  thousand  dollars  with 
them.  I  make  no  comment — the  reader  has  the  floor. 

The  climate  at  Stockton  was  beautiful.  The  plain 
extended  twenty  miles  to  the  mountain — this  was  by 
one  road,  used  entirely  by  miners  and  pack  trains,  and 
early  in  its  being  traveled  w^as  the  scene  of  two  murders 
and  two  robberies,  of  which  fact  the  scaffold  in  Stock 
ton  bears  testimony. 


CALIFORNIA    IN    1849.  107 

The  writer  was  satisfied  that  chronic  diarrhoea  was  no 
respecter  of  persons,  and  if  life  was  worth  more  than 
gold,  it  was  time  for  him  to  nurse  his  health,  and  wiih 
his  son,  Henry,  after  closing  up  our  business,  took 
steamer  for  home.  We  had  a  beautiful  run  down  the 
coast ;  crossed  the  Isthmus,  joined  the  steamer  for  New 
York,  and  arrived  safe  at  New  Haven,  August  7th,  1 850, 
with  two  good-sized  bags  of  gold,  showing  a  balance 
against  the  enterprize  of  $23,000. 

The  account  stood  thus : 

To  Dr. 

Cash  outfit  to  California,  including  self  and  two  sons $7,000 

Wear  and  tear,  body,  soul,  and  breeches. 10,000 

Privations  (non-society) - 5,000 

Do.,  morning  winds  and  fogs  in  San  Francisco 2,000 

Risk  of  life  in  various  ways -.. 10,000 

"  Rolling  stone"  process _ 5,000 

$39,000 
Cr. 

By  two  bags  gold,  containing $16,000 

"  balance  to  new  account 23,000 


E.  E.  _ $39,000 

New  Haven,  August  7th,  1850.  C.  F.  HOTCHK1SS. 

Pope  speaks  my  sentiment  relative  to  gold-hunting : 

"  To  either  India  see  the  merchant  fly, 
Scar'd  at  the  spectre  of  pale  poverty ! 
See  him,  with  pains  of  body,  pangs  of  soul, 
Burn  through  the  tropic,  freeze  beneath  the  pole ! 
Wilt  thou  do  nothing  for  a  nobler  end, 


108  CALIFORNIA    IN    1849. 

Nothing,  to  make  philosophy  thy  friend  ? 
To  stop  thy  foolish  views,  thy  long  desires, 
And  ease  thy  heart  of  all  that  it  admires  ? 
Here,  wisdom  calls :  '  seek  virtue  first,  be  bold ! 
As  gold  to  silver,  virtue  is  to  gold.'  " 


CARD. — Summer  Boarding  at  Short  Beach,  Branford, 
Conn.  Stages  three  times  a  day,  to  and  from  New  Haven. 
Open  June  1st — till  November.  Price,  $10  per  week. 

C.  F.  HOTCHKISS. 


SAM   PATCH'S   LAST   LEAP. 

SAM  was  a  noted  character  of  the  loafer  species,  his 
associate  a  black  bear  and  a  brandy  bottle.  His 
motto,  "  Some  things  can  be  done  as  well  as  others,"  was 
ever  present  with  him,  either  printed  in  large  letters,  or 
at  the  end  of  his  tongue.  The  good  people  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  for  many  years  after  Sam's  death,  in  1829,  were 
greatly  averse  to  hear  or  say  anything  about  this  great 
hero.  The  Eastern  world  have  heard  the  name,  while 
the  former  knew  him  in  person ;  for  he  could  be  seen 
walking  with  his  bear  through  their  streets,  recounting 
his  great  exploit  of  jumping  the  falls  of  Niagara,  and 
his  promising  to  make  his  "  last  jump  "  at  Genesee  Falls. 
Sam  aspired  to  no  other  honors  than  jumping,  and  had 
educated  his  companion,  the  bear,  to  the  same  beautiful 
feat  of  ground  and  lofty  tumbling.  He  had  frequently 
done  the  exploit  at  the  Genesee,  and  safely ;  but  it  was, 
as  he  said,  done  quietly  in  order  that  he  could  get  the 
"  hang  of  the  barn,"  but  now  he  concluded  to  make  a 
noise  in  the  world  and  let  the  people  of  Rochester  know 
that  "  some  things  could  be  done  as  well  as  others." 
His  motto,  his  tongue  and  his  bear  were  his  sole  capital, 
and  on  these  he  was  determined  to  rally  and  "cut  a 
swarth  "  in  the  world,  and  by  calling  the  people  to  his 


110  SAM  PATCH'S  LAST  LEAP. 

"last  jump"  he  would  be  "greatly  enriched  with  honor 
and  gold."  He  would  then  "  go  to  Europe,  jump  all  their 
falls  and  return  rich."  These  were  his  views,  freely  ex 
pressed  to  his  printers,  Tuttle,  Sprague  and  Sherman, 
where  he  selected  large  wood  type,  "  Sam's  Last  Leap," 
for  the  heading  of  his  poster,  and  his  favorite  motto, 
"  Some  things  can  be  done  as  well  as  others,"  at  the  foot. 

Sam  having  freedom  among  the  rum  shops  and  saloons, 
he  and  the  bear  during  the  three  weeks  of  his  announce 
ment  made  calls  once  a  day,  brandy  for  Sam,  and  crackers 
with  sugar  on  them  for  Bruin,  all  free.  No  one  seemed 
disposed  to  annoy  the  pair,  and  it  was  asserted  by  Sam 
Drake  and  Joe  Seely,  both  gentlemen  of  truth  and  integ 
rity,  that  Sam's  inwards  were  cased  with  oiled  silk  to 
prevent  the  hundred  drinks  which  he  took  each  day  from 
eating  through,  and  on  Drake's  being  questioned  as  to 
the  eifect  of  brandy  on  his  brain,  he  quickly  replied  that 
"Sam  never  had  any,"  and  added,  "many  people  have  a 
place  for  that  necessary  commodity,  but  poor  Sam  Patch 
was  entirely  minus,  or,  as  might  be  better  understood, 
nullius  filius"  And  yet,  Sam  knew  enough  to  find 
Baker's  horse  shed  on  Buffalo  street  every  night  when 
the  labor  of  the  day  was  over,  but  friend  Drake  denied 
it  and  gave  Bruin  that  honor. 

The  people  had  no  idea  that  Sam  wanted  to  commit 
suicide,  although  the  bills  would  indicate  otherwise. 
Nothing  was  said  or  done  about  putting  a  stop  to  the 
show.  Everybody  within  the  range  of  Ontario,  Genesee, 
Wayne,  or  Monroe  Counties  were  amused  at  the  idea  of 
witnessing  the  great  feat,  as  was  proved  by  their  pres 
ence.  Even  the  village  of  Rochester  and  its  President, 
my  worthy  and  valued  friend,  Joseph  Medbury,  Esq., 


SAM  PATCH'S  LAST  LEAP.  1 1 1 

never  supposed  such  a  thing  could  or  would  be  done  to 
interfere  with  the  proceedings.  The  Kochesterites  were 
so  anxious  to  see  the  show  that  everyone  but  the  halt, 
the  lame,  the  blind,  and  those  that  were  behind  the  bars 
on  Jail  street,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Merchant,  were 
there,  babies  and  all.  Both  river  banks  above  and  below 
the  falls,  and  every  building  near  them  were  lined  with 
people,  and  no  doubt  50,000  people  witnessed  the  scene. 
It  was  but  a  moment's  job  for  any  person  to  step  into  the 
Arcade,  and  with  a  reasonable  affidavit  made  before  his 
Honor  Wm.  S.  Bishop,  Justice,  the  performance  would 
have  been  knocked  higher  than  a  kite,  and  Sam  (if  friend 
Drake's  philosophy  is  disturbed)  to-day  might  be  an  am 
bassador  to  the  Ladrones. 

Sam  was  a  vagrant  and  everybody  knew  it.  They 
knew  he  was  drunk  when  he  tied  Bruin  to  the  scaffold, 
and  yet  these  squeamish  old  .maids  and  wiseacres,  not 
one  of  them  made  a  move  to  either  stop  or  protest  against 
the  proceeding.  The  author  feels  a  little  sore  on  this 
subject  and  has  waited  about  fifty  years  to  throw  the 
lash,  as  the  sequel  will  show.  And  those  of  you  now 
alive  who  then  figured  in  the  abuse  to  the  writer,  will 
fully  understand  me  without  further  explanation ;  but  if 
not  I  will  get  up  a  lecture  at  Rochester  on  Sam  Patch 
and  his  "  last  jump,"  admittance  free. 

By  Sam's  arrangement  and  selection,  a  scaffold  was 
erected  at  the  edge  of  the  falls  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  twenty-four  feet  additional  above  the  falls.  Sam 
selected  eight  persons,  special  and  deputy  constables,  to 
solicit  money  from  the  people.  He  mounted  the  scaffold 
drunk  and  clamorous,  turned  to  the  east  bank,  vaunting 
and  rattling  off  an  incoherent  mess  of  disconnected 


112 

words,  with  strong  ill-shapen  gestures  and  contortions  of 
body,  twisting  himself  into  all  shapes,  then  suddenly 
turned  to  the  west,  occupying  by  my  watch  five  minutes, 
not  one  word  of  which  was  heard  above  the  falls  by  rea 
son  of  the  roar  of  the  water,  and  in  an  instant,  without 
waiting  to  inflate  his  lungs,  wheeled,  facing  the  water, 
and  with  both  hands  uplifted  made  the  jump.  At  half 
way  down  his  hands  dropped  to  his  side ;  his  body, 
forming  a  portion  of  a  circle,  struck  the  water  on  his 
right  side,  the  blow  of  which  was  sufficient  to  knock  the 
breath  from  his  body,  but  there  is  no  question  that  he 
died  in  the  air.  Your  humble  servant  was  under  the 
falls  and  said  to  a  friend  at  his  side,  He  is  dead.  And 
though  raked  for  several  days  was  never  seen  until  three 
months  after,  and  then  found  at  Carthage.  The  great 
mass  of  people  waited  a  few  moments  and  turned  away, 
some  with  a  tear  of  regret,  others  growling  and  ranting 
everybody  and  everything,  for  "  suffering  the  man  to 
commit  suicide,"  while  others,  more  prudent,  went  quietly 
home  to  ponder  over  "  Sam's  last  leap."  When  satisfied 
that  Sam  had  truly  made  his  last  effort,  one  of  his  com 
panions  dragged  poor  Bruin  to  the  edge  of  the  falls  and 
gave  him  a  launch  for  his  master.  The  bear,  more  wise 
than  his  master,  gathered  himself  in  a  heap,  struck  on 
his  haunches,  went  just  under  the  surface,  came  up,  gave 
a  good  sneeze  and  made  for  the  shore,  where  his  new 
master  was  waiting  for  him,  and  they  left  for  parts  un 
known — boon  companions. 

The  persons  holding  the  contributions  paid  for  the 
efforts  made  to  obtain  the  body,  gave  a  report  to  each 
other,  advertised  for  the  heirs  of  poor  Sam,  afterwards 
called  a  meeting  of  citizens  at  Christopher's  Tavern, 


113 

Deacon  Hawley  in  the  chair.  We  desired  advice  as  to 
the  disposition  of  the  funds,  then  amounting  to  about 
$300.  About  100  citizens  were  present.  Nothing  was 
done  but  to  abuse  the  poor  officers.  The  good  old  Deacon 
held  the  meeting  up  to  strict  rules,  and  still  they  heaped 
the  abuse,  and  your  humble  servant  received  a  full  share. 
The  meeting  broke  up  for  want  of  order,  without  action. 
When  Sam's  body  came  to  the  surface  we  called  another 
meeting,  stating  in  the  call  that  we  proposed,  as  the 
body  was  now  within  our  reach  needing  burial,  to  expend 
the  funds  in  erecting  a  monument  on  the  bank  of  the 
river  to  his  memory,  and  that  to  the  present  no  heirs  had 
appeared.  About  seventy  persons  were  present.  After 
considerable  cross-firing  the  question,  "  Shall  a  monu 
ment  be  erected  ?"  was  negatived  sixty  to  ten.  A  bitter 
feeling  began  to  show  itself;  we  were  targets  again. 
Finally  a  gentleman  offered  his  remarks,  saying,  "I  con 
sider  this  whole  matter  a  disgrace  to  our  village.  We 
have  .allowed  a  poor  drunken  fool  to  commit  suicide  right 
before  our  face  and  eyes,  without  making  the  least  effort 
to  prevent  it.  Our  citizens  should  be  thankful  that  time 
will  outlive  memory,  and  there  was  hope  that  the  thing 
would  be  forgotten.  It  was  as  much  your  and  my  busi 
ness  to  interfere  as  these  officers,  and  though  I  appre 
ciate  the  motive  of  these  gentlemen  in  their  offer  to  erect 
a  monument  and  the  efforts  they  have  made  to  disburse 
the  collections,  but  really,  Mr.  Chairman,  were  they  to 
erect  this  monument,  I  should  expect  a  similar  scene  as 
was  witnessed  at  the  Tower  of  Babel,  and  if  these  men 
escaped  with  their  lives  they  would  be  extremely  for 
tunate.  I  move  you,  sir,  that  the  gentlemen  bury  the 
dead  and  make  no  more  efforts  to  get  shut  of  the  money." 


114  SAM  PATCH'S  LAST  LEAP. 

This  compromise  seemed  to  give  satisfaction.  The  reso 
lution  passed  unanimously,  the  eight  parties  in  interest 
not  voting. 

Now,  if  your  humble  servant  had  not  been  so  shame 
fully  persecuted,  he  never  would  have  resurrected  the 
story  of  Sam  Patch,  and  if  the  whole  truth  had  been 
told  to  the  people  there  would  have  been  no  necessity 
for  any  person  either  in  or  out  of  Rochester  to  call  on  an 
old  salt  of  three  score  years  and  thirteen  to  come  forth 
from  his  little  snug  harbor  at  Short  Beach,  Bran  ford, 
Connecticut,  and  give  information  relative  to  "Sam's 
Last  Leap." 


CARD. — Summer  Boarding  at  Short  Beach,  Branford, 
Conn.  Stages  three  times  a  day  to  and  from  New  Haven. 
Open  June  1st  till  November.  Price,  $10  per  week. 

C.  F.  HOTCHKISS. 


RESPECT  TO   AGED   FISHERMEN. 

THE  rule  among  fishermen  has  been,  "  If  too  old  to 
fish,  and  yet  incline  to  go  with  the  boys,  you  must 
take  the  middle  thwart  and  cut  bait  for  the  party." 
This  is  good  piscatorial  law,  except  seating  him  on  the 
middle  thwart.  I  always  give  them  the  stern  sheets. 
The  reader  would  no  doubt  say,  that  when  a  man  be 
comes  an  "  old  fogy  "  and  can't  fish,  sea-legs  all  gone,  it  is 
no  place  for  him  in  a  boat.  Not  so,  friend.  These  old 
fogy  fishermen,  as  long  as  they  can  see  a  land-mark  or  a 
tide  rip,  or  have  the  use  of  the  tongue,  are  useful  as  well 
as  ornamental.  Useful  as  before  mentioned,  to  cut  bait 
and  tell  shark  stories.  Ornamental,  in  that  their  full 
flowing  white  hair  answers  as  a  signal  to  other  boats  to 
give  us  a  good  birth,  a  respect  to  old  age,  and  beside, 
they  make  good  ballast.  It  has  been  a  privilege  during 
my  piscatorial  life  to  take  in  my  boat  all  the  "  old  fogy "' 
fishermen  that  had  good  eyesight  and  teeth,  and  some 
who  were  plump  up  to  four-score  years  and  ten,  notwith 
standing  they  could  not  walk,  but  required  a  "  sky 
tackle  "  purchase  to  carefully  get  them  in  and  out  of  the 
boat.  My  plan  was  to  place  the  good  old  souls  in  the 
stern  sheets  (the  seat  of  honor)  give  him  the  best  gear, 
bait  his  hooks,  make  the  end  of  his  line  fast  to  a  cleat, 
"  throw  and  haul "  his  line  for  him  when  he  called  for 


116  RESPECT   TO    AGED    FISHERMEN. 

help,  always  sit  beside  him  and  occasionally  give  his 
line  a  nip,  but  if  he  could  not  hook  the  fish  I  would  put 
one  on  myself  and  let  him  run,  and  the  old  man  would 
get  him  in  somehow.  It  was  worth  more  than  it  cost  to 
see  the  wonderful  effect  on  an  old  fisherman.  Oh,  how 
his  eyes  would  sparkle  and  flash,  and  then  hear  him  as 
he  hauled  a  fish,  sing  out,  "Can't  fish,  ha !  An  old  fogy 
and  can't  fish,  ha  !"  and  I  said  to  myself,  Who  would 
refuse  to  give  the  old  fogy  fisherman  one  more  chance  at 
his  favorite  amusement  ?  It  may  be  your  lot  or  mine  to 
be  an  old  fogy.  If  mine,  I  have  no  doubt  I  shall  be  re 
warded  in  a  measure,  "inasmuch,"  etc.,  for  if  when  your 
humble  servant  shall  be  "  laid  up  in  ordinary,"  and  can't 
get  into  a  boat,  his  friends  will  no  doubt  place  him  in  a 
nice  easy  chair  in  the  shade  of  the  old  white  oak  tree, 
his  vision  spanning  Short  Beach  Bay  on  a  sweep  of  the 
horizon  from  W.  to  E.  S.  E.,  while  he  in  a  faint  voice, 
sings  "  Oh,  vat  a  man  I  was  once  !  But  I  never  was  dat 
man  vat  I  has  been  for  all." 

Moral :  Do  not  neglect  the  old  fishermen  while  their 
vision  is  good  ;  they  may  be  too  far  gone  to  write  a  his 
tory  of  the  past,  or  to  get  into  a  boat  and  fish,  but  gen 
erally  if  with  a  breath  left,  they  can  sigh  for  the  "  leeks 
and  onions,"  and  tell  a  good  fish  story.  Always  tip  your 
beaver  to  an  old  fisherman  and  ask  him  if  he  has  tried 
"New  Reef"  the  present  season,  and  if  he  is  poor  in 
purse  hand  him  a  dollar  and  ask  him  if  he  will  go  with 
you  to  the  "  Cow  and  Calf"  off  Branford  the  first  pleas 
ant  day.  Look  him  square  in  the  eye  and  you  will  see  a 
tear  gathering  in  the  corner  as  clear  as  a  choice  diamond. 
Poor  old  man,  he  feels  the  infirmities  of  age,  but  his 
memory  is  roused  and  he  replies,  "  Old  Cow  and  Calf! 


RESPECT    TO    AGED    FISHERMEN.  117 

and  then  there's  Branford  Beacon,  two  miles  to  the  east 
ward,  where  I  have  fished  in  early  days  with  Hotchkiss, 
he  that '  catches  all  creation.'  "  See,  the  old  man  has  re 
newed  his  age.  You  have  touched  the  right  note.  He 
is  awake  again.  He  has  been  a  reader  in  his  day,  and 
reminds  you  that  the  day  has  come  "  when  the  keepers 
of  the  house  shall  tremble  and  the  strong  men  shall  bow 
themselves,  and  the  grinders  cease  because  they  are  few, 
and  those  that  look  out  of  the  windows  be  darkened 
and  the  doors  shall  be  shut  in  the  streets,  when  the 
sound  of  the  grinding  is  low,  and  he  shall  rise  up  at  the 
voice  of  the  bird,  and  all  the  daughters  of  music  shall 
be  brought  low.  Also  when  they  shall  be  afraid  of  that 
which  is  high,  and  fears  shall  be  in  the  way,  and  the 
almond  tree  shall  flourish,  and  the  grasshopper  shall  be 
a  burden,  and  desire  shall  fail ;  because  man  goeth  to 
his  long  home,  and  the  mourners  go  about  the. streets; 
or  ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  be 
broken,  or  the  pitcher  be  broken  at  the  fountain,  or  the 
wheel  broken  at  the  cistern.  Then  shall  the  dust  return 
to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  shall  return  unto 
God  who  gave  it." 


CARD. — Summer  Boarding  at  Short  Beach,  Branford, 
Conn.     Stages  three  times  a  day  to  and  from  New  Haven. 

Open  June  1st,  till  November. 

C.  F.  HOTCHKISS. 


THE   SERPENT   OF   THE   SEA. 

MY  readers  will  no  doubt  agree  with  me  about  the 
testimony  yet  given  to  the  world  as  to  the  existence 
of  the  Sea  Serpent,  Nahant,  Cape  May  and  Nantucket 
to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding.  The  author  in  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  waters  has  never  been  a  witness  for 
the  snaky  monster,  though  he  has  witnessed  the  gambols 
of  the  grampus  and  porpoise,  with  an  occasional  sight 
of  a  "humpback"  on  the  far  horizon  on  a  calm  day 
and  a  quiet  sea,  which  sometimes  would  resemble  the 
graphic  description  of  a  "  Sea  Serpent  off  Nahant,"  and 
yet  I  believe  that  such  "critters"  do  exist  in  a  more 
southern  latitude.  In  conversation  with  my  good,  kind 
old  skipper,  Capt.  Peter  Storer,  whom  the  world  must 
believe,  I  drew  from  him  the  following : 

"In  1806  the  ship  Baltimore,  of  Baltimore,  owned  by 
Billy  Patterson,  on  entering  Calcutta  Bay,  and  off  the 
island  of  Salone,  with  a  light  breeze,  sighted  on  the 
weather  bow  an  object  resembling  a  large  stake  about 
four  feet  above  the  surface  and  distant  about  half  a  mile, 
on  the  move,  with  about  equal  speed  of  the  ship,  appar 
ently  intending  to  cross  the  bow.  Having  a  heavy  pair 
of  four-prong  grains,  they  were  immediately  rigged  in  a 
nine-thread  rattling  stuff  and  a  full  coil,  by  the  skipper, 
Sylvanus  Long,  of  Nantucket,  who  jumped  into  a  plat- 


120  THE    SERPENT    OF    THE    SEA. 

form  fastened  on  her  bowsprit  shrouds,  and  with  a  strong 
cast  put  the  grains  through  the  creature  just  under  the 
surface.  The  spear  came  out  of  the  socket,  became  tan 
gled  among  the  spritsail-yard  guys,  the  animal  half  out 
water  and  making  tremendous  efforts  to  shake  of  the 
grains,  but  they  had  too  firm  a  hold,  though  the  lanyard 
parted  and  he  went  off  to  leeward  on  the  surface  with 
the  water  in  a  perfect  foam  and  was  seen  for  a  half  hour 
before  he  sank.  On  the  log  of  the  ship  he  is  described 
as  an  animal  without  scales,  a  large  bright  eye,  about 
twenty  feet  long,  tapering  from  near  the  center  to  head 
and  tail,  and  was  a  foot  in  diameter  eight  feet  from  his 
head.  His  body  was  plainly  seen  its  full  length  and  no 
portion  of  it  near  the  surface  except  as  before  stated. 
It  was  in  shape  a  perfect  serpent,  and  in  a  region  of  salt 
water  of  eighty  fathoms  deep.  And  further,  the  same 
parties  on  the  same  day  caught  a  herring  hog  from  which 
they  extracted  a  dozen  real  genuine  snakes,  from  one  to 
three  feet  long." 

The  reader  will  observe  that  all  previous  descriptions 
of  the  sea  serpent  yet  given  us,  and  especially  "off 
Nahant,"  affirm  that  when  he  moves  in  the  water  he 
represents  a  dozen  or  less  hummocks  on  his  back,  or  por 
tions  of  circles,  thus  asking  us  to  believe  that  he  could 
get  up  a  fair  speed  with  the  body  in  that  position.  I 
pronounce  it  all  a  canard.  Give  us  the  Bay  of  Bengal 
snake  in  preference,  for  his  or  her  body  was  in  a  natural 
position.  Ask  my  old  skipper  if  he  advocates  the  affirm 
ative  on  Sea  Serpents. 


SHORT   BEACH. 

'TMIE  inquiry  often  comes  up  as  to  the  location  of  this 
1  snug  watering  place  which  has  recently  been  brought 
into  notice,  and  is  now  being  built  upon  for  summer  res 
idence.  It  lays  about  three  miles  east  of  New  Haven 
Lighthouse,  in  the  town  of  Branforcl,  Conn.,  in  a  beau 
tiful  bay  fronting  Long  Island  Sound,  and  due  north, 
about  two  miles  from  the  "Cow  and  Calf"  (rocks  so 
famous  in  the  estimation  of  our  old  fishermen). 

When  the  author  and  Mr.  George  Gunn  dropped  an 
anchor  here  three  years  ago,  they  found  a  small  number 
of  neighbors  who  gave  them  the  right  hand  of  fellow 
ship,  sold  part  of  their  possessions  at  a  fair  price,  and 
with  but  one  road  terminating  at  the  sea,  threw  in  their 
influence  to  induce  the  town  of  Branford  to  open  a  road 
leading  westerly  to  East  Haven  and  easterly  to  Double 
Beach  and  Branford  Center.  This  work  has  been  accom 
plished,  and  it  surprises  the  world  generally  to  witness 
the  improvements  in  so  short  a  time.  Our  little  bay  is  in 
the  form  of  a  horse-shoe,  protected  on  the  north  by  ele 
vated  land  regularly  declining  to  the  beach  ;  westerly  by 
high  bluffs;  southerly,  opening  the  view  of  Long  Island 
Sound  from  west  to  east,  and  easterly  by  a  range  of 
rocks  visible  at  high  water,  overlooking  the  same  to  the 
horizon.  On  a  promontory  at  the  west  chop  of  the  bay 


122  SHORT    BEACH. 

are  the  beautiful  residences  of  Messrs.  Reynolds,  Horton, 
Williams,  Cory  and  Bristol.  Fronting  the  sea  on  the 
east  chop  are  the  residences  of  Messrs.  Wilcox,  Rev. 
Simonds,  the  W.  C.  of  Wallingford  and  Oneida,  and 
Mrs.  Hamilton,  of  Hartford,  and,  divesting  the  author  of 
Me-gotism,  he  would  say  that,  fronting  the  sea  on  the 
north  are  the  residences  of  Messrs.  Gunn,  Miller,  Clark, 
Jun.,  Church,  Becket,  Bradley,  Hart,  Doolittle,  Clark, 
Sen.,  and  Wm.  J.  Clark,  Ives,  Nichols,  Crane,  Coles, 
Marvin,  Hartson,  Hough,  and  though  last,  not  by  any 
means  least,  the  cottage  of  the  humble  old  fisherman 
and  jolly  author.  iH^^  At  your  service. 

But  hark !  what's  up  ?  Ah  !  yes,  I  understand.  It's 
the  signal  from  the  Commodore  of  the  "  Rockland  Park 
Navy,"  W.  H.  Reynolds,  of  the  beautiful  Nita,  carry 
ing  his  broad  pennant  signaling  the  fleet  to  "heave 
short."  And  casting  my  eye  over  Horton's  Point,  and 
under  the  lee  of  Darrow's  Island,  on  which  is  the  home 
of  Captain  Bailey  and  his  good  wife,  I  saw  in  perfect 
trim  and  line,  the  Sappho,  Florence,  Lillie,  Venus,  Pet, 
and  Onward.  It  was  the  first  rendezvous  of  the  season, 
and  the  morning  as  clear  as  their  white  hulls  by  paint, 
and  sails, by  bleaching,  could  in  man's  ingenuity  be  made. 
Casting  an  eye  seaward,  everything  betokened  a  white- 
ash  breeze,  but  in  the  tfay  an  occasional  cat's-paw  spent 
itself  on  the  surface  of  the,  water,  which  otherwise  was 
as  smooth  as  glass.  The  little  white  "  spike-tailed  "  gull 
had  left  his  rookery  down  Sound,  and  made  an  occasional 
dive  for  a  fish  within  speaking  distance  of  the  fleet.  The 
tide  by  its  rips  on  the  outside  reefs  indicated  flood,  and 
with  my  glass  pointed  to  Long  Island  shore,  a  spank 
ing  breeze  about  W.  by  S.  was  on  his  way.  The  com- 


SHORT    BEACH.  123 

modore  saw  it,  and  in  the  twinkling  of  a  codfish's  eye 
sent  his  "  bos'n  "  in  the  little  gig  to  each  craft  with  the 
message,  "  Have  your  reef  gear  ready  !  and  make  no 
harbor  unless  stress  of  weather  requires !  round  Bran- 
ford  Beacon  and  return."  On  the  quarter  seat  to  each 
craft  were  one  or  more  ladies,  rigged  a  la  sailor,  dark 
tight-fitting  coat  and  brass  buttons,  small  jockey  hat 
and  no  feathers — sails  mutton-legged,  no  main  boom  to 
knock  the  ladies  on  the  head,  no  thumping  of  the  heart 
with  fear,  but  full  of  courage  ;  for  it  is  a  rule  in  this  fleet 
to  "  keep  main  sheet  in  hand."  But  let  us  return  to  the 
Commodore,  with  his  broad  blue  and  red  pennant  tailing 
to  the  first  overshot  breeze,  spring  on  his  cable,  leading 
aft,  but  stopped  on  a  ring  bolt  with  a  yarn.  The  whole 
code  of  signals  he  keeps  within  the  fleet,  but  the  author 
caught  the  order  "  Pay  off  to  port !  let  go  !  And  with 
a  glorious  wind  the  fleet  was  in  the  wake  of  the  Nita, 
going  like  scalded  hogs.  Beautiful  sight,  "  free  sheets," 
starboard  tacks  aboard,  going  ten  knots  an  hour.  Oh, 
how  the  water  did  fly !  The  author  was  so  well  pleased 
with  the  seamanship  displayed  by  the  lads  that  he  never 
intruded  the  question  of  "  who  rounded  the  beacon  first  ?" 
But  he  will  throw  up  his  colors  and  hat  for  the  "  Rock- 
land  Park  Navy  "  any  time. 


"THROW   A   ROPE!" 

ON  the  quarter  rail  of  a  taut-rigged  vessel,  be  she 
large  or  small,  you  will  notice  a  "  belaying  pin  "  011 
which  is  a  coil  of  small  rigging,  the  "  better  end  "  spliced 
to  a  "  thimble  bolt "  at  the  under  side  of  the  rail.  The 
other  end  has  a  small  buoy  of  wood  well  secured,  above 
wrhich  are  knots  every  three  fathoms.  This  neat  little 
coil  of  rigging  is  a  fixture  and  never  for  ordinary  use. 
A  strict  disciplinarian  and  humane  skipper  would  as 
soon  think  of  starting  on  the  voyage  without  a  compass, 
as  to  omit  casting  his  eye  on  both  quarters  of  the  ship 
for  this  simple  apparatus,  or  sing  out,  "Let  go  your 
fast !"  while  the  gang  plank  is  out.  This  piece  of  rigging 
is  occasionally  dropped  overboard  to  remove  "kinks" 
and  re-coiled  on  the  pin,  but  never  stopped.  It  is  so 
neatly  laid  when  coiled  that  should  the  cry  of  "A  man 
overboard"  be  heard,  a  good  strong  arm  can  throw  it 
from  the  ship,  unfolding  itself  in  the  air,  without  a  snarl 
or  kink.  If  no  such  cry  is  heard  on  board  the  ship,  then 
the  coil  of  rigging  is  useless. 

In  the  winter  of  1873,  a  young  man,  calling  himself 
an  Evangelist,  having  been  recently  converted  at  Phila 
delphia,  came  to  New  Haven  and  assumed  the  pulpit  of 
the  Howe  Street  Church.  His  preaching  was  apparently 
satisfactory  to  the  people  judging  from  the  crowds  who 


126  "THROW  A  ROPE!" 

attended  the  services,  and  certainly  there  was  reasonable 
evidence  that  many  persons  had  become  converted. 
Everything  appeared  to  go  on  smoothly  with  the  young 
man  and  his  cause  for  a  few  months,  when  it  was  evident 
that  his  work  could  not  be  prosecuted  in  peace.  Certain 
men  who  had  been  instrumental  in  placing  him  in  the 
pulpit,  without  any  church  organization  openly  declared 
war  against  him,  with  the  threat  that  he  not  only  should 
vacate  the  pulpit  but  the  city.  This  was  in  the  midst 
of  as  great  a  revival  of  religion  as  New  Haven  ever 
witnessed.  Realizing  the  position  of  the  young  man, 
and  fearing  that  he  would  be  crushed  and  the  cause  he 
advocated  be  injured,  I  deemed  it  a  privilege  as  well  as 
a  duty  to  "throw  a  rope,"  and,  if  possible,  save  him 
from  the  wicked  persecutions  surrounding  him.  I  do 
not  propose  to  go  into  a  full  narrative  of  this  wicked 
combination,  but  I  cannot  in  justice  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  and  my  personal  friends,  say  other  than  this :  the 
young  preacher  was  assailed  to  that  extent  by  the  pro 
fessed  followers  of  Christ  as  to  partially  give  way  for  a 
time.  In  my  family  he  found  an  asylum  from  those  who 
would  glory  in  driving  him  to  abandon  his  religion  and 
his  Master's  work.  He  was  but  two  years  old  in  the 
cause,  his  former  life  not  in  sympathy  with  the  new, 
friends  expecting  that  he  could  stand  erect  without  ex 
tending  their  sympathy  to  sustain  him.  Instead  of  kindly 
Christian  greeting,  he  was  discarded.  This  was  more 
than  he  could  bear,  and  like  John  B.  Gough,  he  fell  (but 
only  once),  and  had  not  that  great  man's  friends  thrown 
"  the  rope  "  four  times,  Mr.  Gough  would  have  fallen 
short  the  laurels  he  now  carries  in  his  gray  hairs.  Be 
fore  high  heaven  myself  and  family  had  no  axe  to  grind, 


"THROW  A  HOPE!"  127 

when  we,  like  the  Shun  ami  te  woman,  introduced  Marvin 
W.  Lutz  into  our  plain  "  upper  chamber."  Our  cruse  of 
oil  was  then  full,  but  we  remembered  the  warning, 
"Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my  prophets  no 
harm  !" 

The  author  has  learned  that  Friendship,  if  available 
when  wanted,  is  Christianity.  Forgive  thine  enemy 
"  seventy  times  seven."  And  now,  to  close  this  subject 
and  the  book,  let  me  say,  with  all  solemnity  and  joy,  I 
believe  that  when  Christ  comes  many  "professors"  (if 
they  finally  enter  his  kingdom)  will  be  surprised  to  see 
Marvin  W.  Lutz  there,  but  it  will  not  surprise  the 
author.  Amen  !  Amen  ! ! 


- 


'. 


Hotchkiss 


On  the  ebb 


L*£ 


^530 

H6 

CASE 
-B — 


M2192 


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